Four Winds
by standbyme406
Summary: Sequel to No Rain! : Little did we all know, in less than 24 hours all of us would be in the biggest pickle any of us had been in in our entire lives.
1. The Cobras Return

**Hey guys, here's the sequel to No Rain, hope you like it.**

* * *

"Get in the car Ryan."

"Eyeball, why the hell would I want to get in the car with you? Hmm? Enlighten me."

"Just _get_ in the car Ryan."

"Eyeball, if I was stuck in a desert and you were the only car for thousands of miles, I _still_ wouldn't get in the car with you."

"Aw come on Ryan, you can't hate me that much. Think of all the good times we've had."

"Ha, funny. If you count 'good times' as practically kidnapping me and trying to murder me, then you're right. And by the way, I can walk home."

"Ryan, your house is three miles away."

"Good, I can use the exercise, I've been meaning to shed a few pounds anyways, asshole!" I spat back at him.

"Now why would you want to go doing that? You look hot just the way you are."

"Oh my god Eyeball. Just get it through your thick skull that I want you to just leave me alone. Okay?"

"Fine. But I will be back for you."

_Oh Jesus. _

Eyeball sped off and I was glad he didn't realize I had had my car today. I searched for my keys in my bag, and I was starting to get a little frantic when I couldn't find them for a good five minutes. 

"Looking for these?" Eyeball was standing leaning against his car and I could see my keys glistening in his hands.

"Asshole! Give me those!" I said while trying to grab them from his hands. Damn him for being taller than me. 

"Will you let me drive you home?"

"Eyeball, do we have to go over this again. I am NOT letting you drive me home! Now give me my keys."

"Nope, sorry. Guess I'll just keep your keys until you give me a chance."

"Ugh!!"

"I love it when you're angry." He said with a smirk.

I didn't say anything and just got into his car and slammed the door hard enough that I hoped it would break. Hard to think the last time I was in his car I was practically getting kidnapped.

"So Ryan, where are we going on our date?"

"Eyeball, just shut the hell up and drive me home. And I want my keys back."

"Why the hostility Ryan?" 

"Why the _hostility_?! Eyeball do you see this!?" I said while pointing to and shaking my cast, resulting from when Eyeball grabbed my wrist so hard it broke. "This is what you did to me!"

"Oh yeah." He said as he cracked open a beer.

"Oh this is good, I'm glad you're the responsible driver that you are." I said while turning to look out the window.

"Heh, you're humor amuses me." 

"If you think this is humor then you'll be laughing real hard when you see how funny my 'humor' gets if you don't give me my keys back." 

I had to admit it was a great feeling being a bitch to him. 

"Oh just keep um coming Ry. I've got all day."

"Yeah, well I don't. Here's my house and I need my keys." 

"What's the magic word?" He said while laughing.

"What are we, five?" 

"Just say it"

"No!"

"Say it!!"

"NO!!"

"SAY IT!!"

"UGH!! PLEASE!!"

"That wasn't too hard, now was it?"

"You make me sick Eyeball Chambers." 

I slammed the car door and ran into my house, slamming the door in the process. 

"What's wrong Boo?"

"Nothing mom, just another run-in with Eyeball."

"Why doesn't that boy just leave you alone?"

"I don't know mom, I guess he just likes my natural 'charm'." 

I was still angry and slammed yet another door as I went into my room. I plopped down on my bed and all I could think was, why me?

* * *

**So I might be updating a lot because I've already written a lot of the story, and read my other story Coffee and Cigarettes if you like this one =) **


	2. Questions Unanswered

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews. =)**

* * *

Guess I should catch you up on a few things. I am now officially 16, my birthday was September 13th if you were wondering. And yes, my party was the shit. Haha. I think Teddy had a little too much helium though, but that's a different story. Oh, and I got a car! It's a '59 Chevrolet Apache 3200 to be exact. I gotta admit it's pretty crappy, but it was the best I could afford.

Also, school just started a month ago and it's been really fun actually. I'm in a lot of classes with the guys and I'm taking a shop class, haha, weird I know, but I'm also taking all the college courses. So yeah that's pretty much what's been going on since summer, by the way it's been about a month and a half since the incident with the Cobras, if you were wondering. And yes, I still hate their guts, but I have to admit it is fun messing with them every once in a while. Like what had happened with Eyeball. So now back to reality…

"Guess who I ran into yesterday."

"Oh Jesus, not one of the Cobras again." Vern said while shaking his head.

"Yup, and let me tell you it was _oodles _of fun getting a ride home from Eyeball."

"WHAT!?" Gordie spat out.

"EYEBALL DROVE YOU HOME!?" Chris almost flipped his lid.

"RYAN, THIS IS A JOKE!!" Teddy was well, just Teddy.

"Yup. It's the truth guys. He stole my keys! The stupid bastard wouldn't give um back unless I let him give me a ride home. He's knows I hate him too, the only reason he's doing this is to get a rise outta me."

"Well that's Eyeball for you." Chris said still sort of in disbelief.

"Yeah well let's just hope it doesn't happen again. So will you guys come with me to go pick up my car from school tomorrow? I realized I have my keys but no car…"

"Yeah, sure."

"Cool, well I gotta go do that gay ass paper for Tolman's class, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Alright, later Ry."

"Chris, did I mention Tolman's a total creep?"

Chris and I were sitting in English class with our creepiest teacher to date, Mr. Tolman. It was like he could molest you with his eyes. He was only 28, unmarried, and did I mention a total creep?

"Yes Ry, you might've mentioned it a couple times."

"Hello class, today we are learning about…"

_Oh my god! He just totally stared at Sandra's boobs! He's so obvious about it too! And look! She's like, flirting back! _

Chris and I were passing notes back a forth, a daily routine for us during Tolman's lectures.

_Yeah, what the hell. Well Sandra's always been the town slut… I think Eyeball got with her last week…_

_Oh that's just great. Look, bell's gonna ring._

_Yeah, meet me at the flagpole after school. I gotta ask you something._

_Alright, why can't you just ask me now?_

_It's important and we need to be alone. _

_Ring._ Chris practically sprinted out of the classroom before I could ask about this mysterious question of his. I ran out into the hall to catch up with him and I spotted the back of his head.

"Chris!" I said while panting out of breath. "Jeez, why couldn't you wait for me? What's with this question you have to ask me?"


	3. You'd Better Look Alive

hey guys, thanks for the reviews and i hope you like the chapter :)

* * *

"Um, I'm not Chris." Richie Finney said while turning around. Richie was one of the guys' old friends. They introduced me to him a couple of weeks ago and he comes and hangs out with us every once in a while.

"Ha, whoops sorry Richie, you look a lot like Chris from the back."

"Yeah, I guess I do since this is the second time this has happened. So how's it goin Ry?"

"I'm good Richie, but I gotta go, I have some business to attend to with Chris."

"Haha, and what sort of 'business' might this be?"

"Oh shut up you perve, it's not like that."

"Uh huh…" He said with a smirk.

"Ha very funny. Well I gotta go, maybe I'll see ya later."

"Yeah, maybe. Bye Ry."

* * *

"Gordie, have you seen Chris? He told me to meet him at the flagpole after school, but I haven't seen him ever since English."

"Yeah I noticed he was acting a little strange. I sat next to him in Math and he barely even talked to me. He kind of just looked lost in his thoughts."

"Hmm… this is weird."

Gordie and I stopped talking because we heard an announcement come over the speaker.

_-Will Teddy Duchamp please come to the principal's office. Immediately. _

"Oh god, what did he do this time?" I said while shaking my head.

"Remember the fire alarm he pulled last week? Betcha they found out it was him."

"Ha, what a dumbass. Well the bells gonna ring Gordie and I gotta go find myself a Chambers kid."

* * *

It was 2:59 pm with 30 seconds left of the school day, and I didn't think I could wait any longer to know the question Chris was gonna ask me. Seriously, those last 30 seconds were like torture.

Ringgggggggg!!

_Yahoo!!_

I pretty much sprinted to the flagpole and plopped down to wait for Chris. I took out my Math homework to do while I was waiting.

"Haha, what a nerd."

I didn't even have to look up to know who it was.

"Oh Teddy, I've missed the sound of your witty voice. So are you suspended or what?"

"Yeah, but I have an 'in school suspension', which means I'm going to be spending three wonderful days with dictator Stevens."

"Ha that sucks, Stevens is a real hard ass. And Teddy, what possessed you to pull the fire alarm anyways?"

"Eh, some kids in shop class told me to do it. It sounded like fun so I did it."

"Well I hope it was 'fun' enough because now you're stuck with Stevens and I'm stuck without a shop class partner."

"You can always be partners with Vern, eeheehee."

The reason Teddy was laughing was because Vern had staple gunned my pinky to the table last week in shop class. It hurt like hell and I swore to myself I would always stay 10 feet away from Vern at all times during that class.

"Haha, that's so funny I forgot to laugh. Now go away I have to finish my nerdy homework, unlike some of us."

"Yeah, Yeah. Just keep talkin Ry. I was gonna go hang out with Katie anyways."

"Haha, 'hang out' my ass."

"Ryan, you know me so well." He said while laughing as he walked away.

I looked at my clock and realized I was talking to Teddy for about 15 minutes, and Chris still wasn't here. Where the hell was he? It wasn't like Chris to be late.

I got up to leave because it was no use in waiting anymore, but then a voice that I had heard so many times before, jerked me back.

"Ryan, darling, where are you going?"

I swiftly turned my head around to see Ace towering over me.

_Gulp._

"Ace, what do you want? Can't you see I'm busy."

Ace just shot me a look and pulled me over towards him. I looked over and saw the other Cobras coming my way.

"Oh yey, you brought your posse."

"Shut up Ryan, you're coming with us."

"Sorry, I already had a previously set engagement." I said while giving him a death glare.

"You know if you keep your smart ass mouth running then we may have to have a repeat of what happened the last time you were being a stupid bitch."

"You know what Ace, _make_ me go with you."

"My pleasure."

Ace grabbed me and swung me over his shoulder. I kicked him and punched him, but it was no good. I also tried to scream, but everyone had already left the school grounds.

We got to his car and he shoved me in the back seat with Fuzzy and Charlie. I could tell that this was going to be such a great day.

"Ace, where are you taking me?"

He didn't answer.

"HELLO? You deaf? I said WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?"

Still no answer.

"ACE!! HELLO? ANYBODY HOME?!"

"Ryan, if you don't shut the fuck up in five seconds you'll be wishing you never came to Castle Rock."

"_Wouldn't have come to Castle Rock if I knew you guys were here…" _I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?"

I didn't answer.

"That's what I thought."

Ace sped off to god knows where, and I was still pretty pissed about Chris not showing up. Whatever, I had more to worry about, like where I was being taken by Ace and his stupid goons.

We arrived at 'the Yard.' Pretty gay name, but that's everyone called the dump where all the Cobras hung out at. Eyeball and Billy were already there cleaning random car parts. I was hoping that I would only be here for a quick chat, but I doubted that that was going to happen.

I walked with Ace towards Eyeball, and let's just say I was _extremely_ shocked to see who I saw coming out from behind where Eyeball was sitting.


	4. Twisted

hey everyone, thanks for all the reviews :)

* * *

"_Chris_!? What are you doing here? Why are you here? What's going on? Is this what you were going to talk to me about? I'm so confused!" I said all of this in disbelief.

"I'm so sorry Ryan! I should've told you earlier. They got me before I could tell you anything. They haven't even told me yet why I'm here."

"Grand. Ace, Eyeball, whoever. Why are we here?"

"You two are going to help us with something very important…" Eyeball said with a smirk.

"What might this 'very important' thing be?" I asked, pretty annoyed.

"Oh you'll see. But for now you two aren't going anywhere so get comfy." Billy said, also with a smirk.

* * *

"This is so stupid. Why are we here? I think we've been here for an hour already."

I kept pacing back and forth, and Chris and I were staying as far as possible from the Cobras, waiting for them to finally let us go.

"I don't know Ry, and I really don't want to get my ass kicked so please keep that wonderful smart ass mouth of yours shut when Ace or Eyeball comes to talk to us."

"Ha, you think I'm a smart ass too? Yeah I probably am. Hey, I got an idea."

"And what might this idea be?"

"Let's sneak out of here. Isn't Teddy's aunt's house like only a couple minutes away from here? We can just run there and get inside the house, and they won't touch us."

"That's a good idea Ry, just how is it gonna work?"

"I don't know that part yet, but I'll think of something."

* * *

"I say we just go talk to them."

"What!?"Chris spat out.

"They'd probably notice if we got up and just started running, right?" I asked Chris.

"Yeah, probably. How bout we knock um over the head with baseball bats?"

"Nice one Chris, such a good idea..." I said sarcastically.

"But, you know what I mean," I continued. "I know we're not gonna win this Cobras/us battle. There's no use."

"Yeah, your right. I guess it would be the logical thing to do. Even though I hate their guts…"

"Yeah, I don't think it'll be any picnic either. Come on, let's get this over with."

I got up to go, but Chris grabbed my arm.

"Wait Ryan, do you remember that question I had to ask you?"

Shit, yeah the question! I had been so wrapped up in what was going on that I completely forgot about Chris's question.

"Oh yeah! What was that about?"

"Well, um uh…"

"Are you okay Chris, is it about your dad? Do you need a place to stay? You know you can always stay at my hou-"

"No Ry, everything's fine at our house, it's just that. Well…" I could tell Chris was extremely nervous.

"It's okay Chris, just tell me."

"Okay, well, these past couple of weeks I've noticed something about you and uh…"

"Chris, I love you and all, but you're just gonna have to spit it out."

"Alright, well Ryan, I like you, and I've liked you for a long time."

_I think Chris just said he liked me, but I don't know if this is real or not. Is this real? Shit yes this is real! _

"Um, I like you a lot too Chris. I'm sorry, I just don't know what to say…"

"You know what Ry, you saying you like me too is good enough for me." He said while smiling.

"Come on let's go." He said while pulling me up.

So off we went to actually talk to the people we loathed the most. Weird, huh? But all I could think about was what had just happened with Chris. And you know what the sad thing is? I really didn't like him back, and I had every intention in liking him back, I just didn't… He was the Chris that would come to me for advice, the Chris I would go to just to hang out with and have fun. I mean we had the perfect friendship, he was my best friend. It's just, maybe I wasn't ready for a relationship with him yet.

"Decided to join us girls?" Eyeball said.

"Yes _Richard_. I guess we had no choice anyway..."

"I'll let that slide Ryan." I knew it would get him pissed to call him by his real name.

Chris just kind of sat there running his hand through his hair, I always made fun of him for that. You could always tell when Chris felt uncomfortable, just look for him running that hand through his hair.

"So why'd you two come over here anyways?" Ace said while not looking at us, he looked more interested in the engine he was cleaning.

"We were wondering if we could leave..." I said, but I already knew we were going to get a big fat no.

"Yeah sure."

_Huh?_

What?? Did Ace just say "Yeah" and "Sure" in the same sentence? To me?! I was so confused!

"Wait, did you just say we could leave?" I said still in disbelief.

"Yeah, we had a bet to see if you would come over here to talk to us, or try and sneak out of here."

_Assholes! They kept us here for nothing. _

All the Cobras snickered and I now knew why they were all smirking before when they told us to "get comfy." I had to admit they got me. It wasn't easy for me to get outsmarted, but they did it and it was pretty creative. I had thought I was going to be a part of a stupid plan again, but I was wrong.

"You assholes." I said, and I was pretty pissed. What are we a game to them?

"Yeah, we are assholes. By the way Eyeball, you owe me five bucks."

"Shit Ryan, why couldn't you've just planned something like you normally do?" Eyeball said while giving the money to Ace.

Little did he know, Chris and me had already had a foolproof plan ready…

"Yeah well I knew it was no use in fighting back."

I couldn't believe I was feeding into the Cobras already huge ego. What was I thinking?

"Glad to see you're not always a smart ass." Ace said while finally looking up from cleaning the engine.

"Thanks Ace." I said while rolling my eyes.

"Come on Chris, let's go."

Chris and I got up to leave and were both thinking the same thing… what the hell had just happened?


	5. They're Catching On To Us

Hey guys, thanks for the reviews :) btw xXMrs.AxlRoseXx your character is in here...

* * *

The next day in English was a little more than awkward for Chris and me. I really was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to say to him.

_Chris, can I talk to you after class?_

_Yeah sure, about what?_

_About what happened yesterday, you know, with the you liking me thing._

_Oh yeah, that. Sure Ry._

_Thanks._

I passed the note, and I just felt so bad. He was gonna hear something he didn't want to hear, and I was gonna say something I didn't want to say.

_Ringggggg! _

_Alright, here you go Ry. Don't mess this up… Oh who am I kidding!_

"Hey Chris." This was going to be so awkward.

"Hey Ry. What'd you need to say?"

"Well, um, well Chris… I just don't like you the way you like me. Does that make sense because if it doesn't I totally understand. I mean here I'll re-"

"Ryan, it's okay. I had a feeling you wouldn't like me in that way. Too close of a friendship to ruin by a relationship, right?"

"Chris, thank you! You read my mind, I knew you would understand!" I embraced him in a huge hug.

_Ugh, you're so stupid Ryan, you know he's only saying this stuff to not hurt your feelings. You know he's upset…_

I knew what I was thinking was right, but I just needed to get out of there, too much to think about.

* * *

"Trinity!! What's up?"

Trinity Fahey was one of my good friends that I met at school. She was shy at first, but was really crazy when you got her talking. She has dirty blonde hair and is about 5' 4", and so far she was my best girl friend at the school.

"Hey Ry! Nothing, are you still walking home with me today?"

"Yeah, sure. Just meet me after school at the steps. I'll see ya then."

"Okay, bye!"

* * *

"Come on woman, I gotta be home soon! Timmy's coming back!" I yelled at Trinity, she had fallen behind because she ended up talking to some kid from English class.

"Ha, I'm coming!"

"Wasn't that Paul you were talking to?" I said with a smirk, I always had a suspicion that she liked him.

"Yeah, but don't get any ideas Ryan Murphy!" She said while blushing.

"Alright I won't, but-" I stopped because I saw Ace's car coming towards us in the distance.

"Oh no. Trinity, you see that black car up there? Well they most likely are going to stop, be annoying, and talk to us."

"Yey, my kind of people." She said sarcastically.

And, what a surprise, Ace stopped, he was already annoying just because he was there, got out of the car with Eyeball, and started talking to us.

"Ryan, why haven't you introduced me to this beautiful friend of yours?" Eyeball said while looking Trinity up and down. Trinity's face turned into a full blush fest.

"Don't fall into his trap Trinity, he's not all that charming." I said while giving a look of disgust at Eyeball.

"Oh Ryan, always the feisty one." He said while twirling my hair.

"Eyeball, get your slimy hands off of me."

"Will you two just shut the fuck up. Ryan, we'll have to talk again later." Ace snapped at us and I immediately obeyed him, Eyeball just shrugged his shoulders and walked over towards Trinity.

"Come on Eyeball, let's go."

Eyeball gave one last look at us and got into the car with Ace. They sped off towards Irby's and I went to talk to Trinity.

"Sorry about that Trinity, they can be real assholes."

"No, it's alright…" Trinity said while she was still blushing.

"Oh no! You've fallen for the Chambers charm haven't you?"

"No! I mean, well…"

"Ha, you're not very good at lying are you Trinity…"

"No, not really. Hey, you gotta admit he is pretty cute."

"Yeah, for a giraffe." I said while laughing.

"Well I think he's cute! And I'm sticking to it."

"You're so weird. If only you knew his crazy wrist-breaking side…"

"His what?"

"Oh nothing…"

We both stopped talking because we were both thinking about the Cobras, and we continued on to our houses.

* * *

"TIMMY!! How was boot camp!!"

I grabbed Timmy and hugged him so hard I thought I was gonna brake him.

"CAN'T….. BREATHE….."

"Ha, sorry Tim. I missed you!!"

All summer Timmy had insisted on mom sending him to boot camp, and he finally got to go for a week. Yeah, I don't know any boy besides him who would want to go boot camp, but this is Timmy we're talking about. That kid was always filled with surprises…

"It was great Ry!! I mean, look at these guns!"

"Aw, you've graduated from a pea sized muscle to a grape sized one!"

"Haha, very funny. I can still beat you in an arm wrestling contest!" He squeaked.

"Yeah, I gotta admit you can."

"Hehe. Hey come look Ryan! I got you something!"

Timmy brought me over to the kitchen table where I saw a glistening dog tag chain, similar to Teddy's.

"Aw, Tim!" I said while picking it up and putting it on. "I love it!"

"Thanks Ry! Look I have the same one!" He said excitedly as he pointed to his.

I loved seeing Timmy's face light up like that. He was always so happy over the little things, and it really made me want to go back to the times where there were no problems. When it was just about hanging out with your friends and staying away from the boys because they had cooties. Ha, those were the days.

* * *

Hey guys, sorry the story is dragging on a bit. Hope you guys liked the chapter though :)


	6. Right Back Where I Started

hey guys, thanks for all the reviews :) hope you like the chapter...

* * *

"Hey Vern."

I went and sat down next to Vern in shop class, making sure there were no nails, nail guns, staple guns, staplers, knifes, sharpeners, etc. near him.

"Ryan! Hey, you're actually sitting by me."

"Ha, yeah, but I had to double check for any hazardous tools before I sat down."

"Aw Ry, I'm so sorry about what happened, sincerely. It's just, I had butter fingers!"

"Vern! It's okay! Really, don't worry about it." I said while patting him on the back.

"Why are you so nice about this? I'll make it up to you, that's what I'll do!"

"Ha, Vern! I'm okay, really! But if you making this up to me means you taking me somewhere fun, then I might hold you up on your word."

"Alright! Sure! I know what we'll do."

"Ha okay Vern, I'll see you later, I gotta go talk to Gordie about something."

"Bye Ryan!"

* * *

"Gordie!! Hey, wait up!!" I was running down the hallway like a maniac, and I would bet everyone was wondering what the hell I was doing.

"Phew, I ran all the way from shop class." I said panting, finally catching up with him.

"I RAN ALL THE WAY HOME!!" Gordie sang while laughing.

"Haha, only you Gordie... Hey, did Chris say anything about, oh I don't know, about me today??"

"Yeah, he did say something about your tits getting bigger, why?"

"What the hell Lachance?!"

"Haha, I'm only kidding. Yeah he talked to me about him telling you that he liked you. I gotta say he was a little upset you didn't like him the same way back. But I told him! I knew you would think it would ruin your friendship."

"Yeah. I mean, aren't I right? Wouldn't it ruin our friendship?"

"Ryan, let me tell you something about Chris. Chris knows people inside and out. If he didn't think a relationship between you and him would work out, then he wouldn't have told you he liked you in the first place."

"Gordie, why do you always have to be so smart? I gotta go and talk to Chris about all of this... I'll see you later! Thanks so much!"

I hugged Gordie and ran off to find Chris, but when I found him, I was beyond shocked.

_Huh? What? That can't be… No! This isn't happening…_

"Chris and Katie!!" I was practically hyperventilating. Everyone stopped and stared for a second, then just kept walking.

_But, I mean, what! No! Chris is supposed to like me, and Katie's supposed to be going out with Teddy! Wha- what is going on!?_

Chris and Katie were practically having their own make out session right in our school courtyard, for all the school to see, including me and Teddy. I couldn't even go over there because, technically, Chris wasn't even mine and he had every intention in making out with whoever he wanted, even if it was with a slut. Yeah, Katie was another one of the town sluts. Teddy's only going out with her to get his quickies. Yeah Teddy could be a real man whore, but I still love him.

* * *

"TRINITYYYYYYYYYY!!" I was running down the halls to find yet another person.

"You're not Trinity! I don't even know you!" I was yelling at random people in the halls who were coming up to me.

"Trinity!! I finally….found…you…" I was saying to her between breaths.

"Jeez Ry! What is it?"

"Chris…and Katie…making out…" I said, still out of breath.

"WHAT? No way! Ryan, why didn't you get me faster!?"

I just glared at her.

"Heh, whoops. Well, spill."

I told her everything I saw and everything they did, right to the last detail. I told her about Chris telling me about him liking me too.

"Man that's one complicated web you're spinning in there."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I mean Chris would _never_, and when I say never I mean _never_, run around with one of his friend's girlfriends. Especially a friend's girlfriend that is a slut!"

"Ha, a little harsh there Ry? But yeah, you're right."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna wait and see what happens. I'm not really in the mood to talk to Chris now anyways."

* * *

It was the end of the school day and I hopped in my truck to drive home.

"Oh hey Eyeball…" I said not really paying attention to what I just had said.

"EYEBALL!! What the hell are you doing in my car?!" I yelled, finally realizing Eyeball was in the passenger seat of my car.

"Hey Ryan, ready for our date?"

* * *

hey guys, side note here. I think i'm going to stop writing this story, I don't feel like writing it anymore. :( APRIL FOOLS! haha I know that was pretty gay, haha hope you guys had a fun april fools day :)


	7. You Just Say You Left Me Like You Could

hey guys, thanks for all the reviews :)

* * *

"Oh my god, Eyeball! Will you ever give up? Here let me show you something…" I said while grabbing his hand and putting it on my cast.

"Eyeball, do you see this? This is what happens when you go out of control and decide to go on a crazy 'lets-kick-Ryan's-ass' spree. And that's not gonna happen again."

"Fine, but I'll find a way to make this up to you."

"Um… okay? Bye Eyeball."

Eyeball got out of my car and walked back towards the school. I might be going crazy, but I think Eyeball actually likes me, and I'm not just a game to him anymore. But why? I didn't want to fall for the guy that I had hated for so long. God, this is getting to be so complicated.

* * *

It had been about three days since the Eyeball incident, I had avoided Chris at all costs, and Teddy had told me to meet him at the courtyard to talk about Chris and Katie.

As I was walking to the courtyard something caught my eye. Something that looked like Eyeball and Trinity… making out.

_God Ryan! This is just your luck, isn't it? One of your best friends now going for the guy you might like. This isn't Trinity's fault though, this has Eyeball written all over it._

"Well someone gets over people fast." I said to Eyeball after Trinity had left.

"I told you I would make it up to you, didn't I?"

"Eyeball, how is making out with my friend 'making it up' to me?"

"I figured if I went for someone else, you'd be happy." He said with a smirk.

"Ugh! Eyeball, you're such an ass. Going for my _friend_? For Trinity, of all people! You know, I thought you had changed. I was gonna give you a chance, but you'll always just be an ass."

I stormed out of there and left Eyeball just standing in disbelief, he deserved it anyways.

I saw Teddy coming towards me so I grabbed him and pulled him into the girl's bathroom.

"Hello ladies!" Teddy said while looking the girls up and down. They were all disgusted and just started calling him a pervert and kept telling him to leave.

"I always heard there was a couch in here…" Teddy said while looking around the bathroom.

"Teddy, snap out of it. I have a Chambers boy problem." I said while grabbing him.

"Oh no Ry, you know Gordie's the one to go and talk about this sappy stuff to…"

"Please Teddy, just listen, for me?" I said with my saddest face I could pull off.

"Oh god Ry, why do you always have to go making that face?" He said looking defeated.

"Because it always works." I said with a smirk. "Now for my problems…"

"….and that's the story of Chris and Katie, Eyeball and Trinity, and the fact that Eyeball and Chris have both liked me in the span of one week."

"Jesus H. Baldheaded Christ. That's quite a story you have there Ry."

"Yeah, I know, and you know what Teddy? I'm not going to say anything to anyone. It's my fault I didn't go out with Eyeball on a date, and it's my fault that I didn't go out with Chris when I had the chance. Geez Teddy, thanks for all the advice! I gotta go, I'll see you later."

"But I didn't even say anything!" Teddy yelled while I was running out. "Hey, how you doin?" I heard Teddy say to a girl as the door closed. Oh Teddy…

* * *

"Hey Chris, so how's Katie?"

Yes, I sucked it up and talked to Chris. I wasn't going to let his stupid relationship with Katie ruin our friendship.

"Ryan, what are you talking about?"

_What...Chris knew exactly what I was talking about, didn't he?_

"I saw you and Katie Donnelly in the courtyard the other day…"

"Me and who…Katie? Ryan, are you kidding!? Why the hell would I be goin with Katie?"

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It wasn't Chris making out with Katie, it was…

"RICHIE!!" I yelled it so loud that even Mr. Tolman stopped and stared at me.

"Miss Murphy, please refrain from yelling in my class."

"Yes Mr. Tolman." I said while sliding down into my seat.

"Chris I'm so sorry. It's just really creepy how similar you and Richie look… and I thought I saw you and Katie making out in the courtyard, but I'm guessing that was Richie. I'm sorry! Gosh, I'm so stupid."

Chris didn't even say anything, he just laughed, laughed and laughed…

"Mr. Chambers, do I have to excuse Miss Murphy _and _you from class?"

"Um, no Mr. Tolman. It won't happen again." Chris said while trying to recover from laughing.

_Ring!!_

"Chris, you're okay with this?" I said while we were walking out of class.

"Ha, yeah. I'm just glad I now know the reason you weren't talking to me these past couple of days."

"This is so great! Chris, can you come over tonight? Please, wouldn't it just be great to spend a Friday night at the Murphy house?" I said while smiling and leaning in towards him, waiting for approval.

"I don't know Ry, I did have some plans with Katie later…" He said while laughing.

"Oh shut up Chambers! I'll see you at six!"

"Ha, alright bye Ry."

* * *

_Ding Dong._ "Hey Chris!" I said while opening the door.

"CHRISSSSSS!!" Timmy came flying down the stairs and jumped on Chris to knock him down, but he didn't even flinch.

"Aw man!" Timmy was obviously upset he still couldn't even move Chris, even after a week of boot camp.

"It's alright Tim, I'll teach you some wrestling moves later."

"Alright, boss! See ya later then!" Timmy ran upstairs, probably going up to prepare for the wrestling later.

"Hello Christopher!" My mom said while walking through the kitchen.

"Hello Mrs. Murphy. How are you?" Chris, always the charmer…

"I am wonderful Christopher. Thank you. Ryan, I'm going to be gone tonight, Timmy can stay alone as long as he locks all the doors."

"Alright, I'll tell him. Bye mom!"

"Bye boo!" My mom said while walking out the door.

"So Ry, what are we doing to-" Chris was interrupted by a furious certain someone that came walking through my door...


	8. Then We Laugh Till We Cry

hey guys, thanks for all the reviews :)

* * *

"THAT BASTARD RICHIE FINNEY!! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"

"Nice to see you Teddy." I said while trying not to laugh. He looked pretty funny when he got pissed.

No more than two seconds later Gordie came walking through the door.

"Hey Ry, I have to ask you something… Chris, Teddy? Hey guys."

Teddy managed to mumble out a 'hey', but he was still pissed.

"Hey Gordie. Well, I guess there's gonna be a party tonight…" Chris said while watching Gordie come in and sit at the kitchen table with us.

"Sincerely, why do these things always happen to me? Ryan are you home?" We looked up and saw Vern coming through the door.

"Hey guys! Why didn't anyone tell me you all were going to Ryan's?" Vern said while sitting down.

"Don't worry Vern, I wasn't aware of this party either." I said while going to grab some chips for everybody.

Teddy got off the couch and went to come and sit with us in the kitchen while mumbling angry phrases to himself.

"So Teddy, you gonna kick Finney's ass?"

"Lachance, I'm not gonna just kick his ass, I'm gonna kill him. No one goes running around with one of _my_ girls. Who the fuck does he think he is?"

"Teddy, please try and calm down. I don't want any fighting going on when I'm around. And Timmy's probably eavesdropping, so don't go giving him any ideas…"

"Ugh, Ryan how do you always know when I'm eavesdropping?" Timmy came into the kitchen looking defeated, and sat down next to Chris and Teddy.

"I don't know Tim, just one of my many talents."

"So guys, what do you wanna do tonight?" I asked everybody.

"I don't know, it's too cold to go to the lake…" Teddy said.

"Yeah, and I don't feel like playing cards, we do that too much." Gordie said.

"And _please_ don't make us go to another movie Ry." Chris said with a pleading look in his eyes. I probably had dragged him to see about 10 movies this summer.

"We can always go look for pennies!"

"Shut up Vern." We all said in unison.

"What? Just an idea…"

"Wanna just go to the Blue Point Diner?" I asked everyone, waiting for approval.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We can just walk around town."

"I haven't done that in a while… I think the last time I went walking around town I got slapped by some hot chick…"

"Teddy, you _wish_ you could get slapped by some hot chick." I said while glaring at him, knowing I was right.

"Yeah, I do." He said with a smirk.

"Ha, oh Teddy. Come on guys, let's get outta here. Sorry Tim, only big kids can go." I said while walking out.

"Aw man!" Timmy said while stalking up to his room, once again defeated.

* * *

"Well look what the cat dragged in." Eyeball smirked as we walked in.

_God! They just show up everywhere!_

"Come on Ry, we'll go sit over here." Chris pushed me over to a table that was as far as possible from the Cobras. All the guys were giving 'if-you-touch-us-we'll-kick-your-ass' glares to them.

"This is just great. Why does this always happen to us? We're cursed. Yup, that is the answer. We are cursed!" I put a menu in front of my face to avoid eye contact with, well _them._ It reminded me of the first time I met the guys.

"Ha, Ry you're so paranoid." Chris laughed. "What do you want to eat?"

"Um… salad and a water."

All the guys looked up from their menus.

"What are you, a rabbit?" Teddy said, bewildered.

"Ha, I'm just kidding! I'll have chicken tenders and a coke."

"Now that's better." Teddy said while looking back down at his menu.

"So Chris, did you finish that thi-" I stopped talking because I was too busy starting at a certain someone I saw hanging out with a certain Cobra, Eyeball to be more specific.

* * *

side note: Sorry about the cliffhangers guys, I just needed to stop the chapter there.


	9. Let The Good Times Roll

hey guys, thanks for the reviews and i hope you like the chapter

* * *

"TRINITY!?" I spat out.

"Ry, you okay? Why'd you yell Trinity?"

"Because look." I turned Chris' head and showed him.

"Man, she doesn't know what she's getting herself into." Chris said while shaking his head.

I waved my arms up and down to get Trinity's attention.

"Ryan! What the hell are you doing?!" They all yelled at me.

All of them grabbed my arms and wouldn't let me go.

"Guys! It's alright, let me go!"

They all loosened their grip and I just glared at them.

"Sorry Ry, we just don't want the Cobras coming over here looking for a fight." Chris said.

"I just need to talk to Trinity guys, nothing's gonna happen."

Trinity looked up and I mouthed "meet me in the bathroom" to her. She got the message and I saw her get up to leave.

"Teddy, can I get out please?" I was on the inside of the booth, Teddy was next to me on the outside.

"Nope. Can't let you do that Ry."

"And why not?"

"Because I don't feel like getting up." He said with a smirk while eating his cheeseburger.

"Teddy! Why do you have to be such an ass? Oh no…" I clenched my stomach.

"What, what happened?"

"Cramps…It's a girl problem, you wouldn't understand. I think you better let me out, I might explode."

"Yuck, yeah leave!" Teddy said while springing up.

"Thanks."

I really didn't have any girl problems to attend to. Hey, a girls gotta do what she's gotta do to get out of a booth with Corporal Teddy Duchamp guarding the way.

I ran into the bathroom to see Trinity fixing where her lipstick had smudged from, well you get the picture.

"Trinity, what are you doing with Eyeball?! And why him?!"

"He's a good guy Ry, and who says you get to pick who I date? You're always getting into other people's business Ryan!" She snapped back.

"Sorry, it's just I don't have the greatest past with him. That's all. Well I'll see ya around Trinity…"

"Yeah, bye Ryan."

She left pretty upset, and she was right. I shouldn't be getting into other people's business.

I walked back to the table and told the guys I wanted to go home. I really wasn't in the mood to have a fun time anymore.

"You okay Ryan?" Chris said, concerned as we were walking back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just I feel like I messed a lot of things up. I'm always getting way to into people's business."

"Aw, come on Ry. You're overreacting. It was just one day, and you were just trying to warn a friend. You shouldn't be beating yourself up over it."

"Thanks Chris." I said with a weak smile. "Yeah, your right. This is just one day anyways."

Chris walked me home and I went straight to bed. I had a lot of things to straighten out the next day…

* * *

"Trinity, I'm really sorry for blowing up in your face about Eyeball."

Trinity and I were in the bathrooms at school the next day.

"It's okay Ry, I mean he's a really good guy. I guess I just really like him, and it hurts to see one of my good friends hate him. You know?"

"Yeah, I know. Just as long as you guys aren't sucking face in front of me, then I'll be okay…" I said while laughing.

"Yuck, you sicko!" She said while hitting me.

"Ha, sorry. Let's go, I think someone took a shit in here…"

"Yeah, I smelled that too…"

Trinity and I walked out of the bathroom and saw the guys coming our way.

"RYYYYAAAANNNN!! I need to talk to you!!" Vern was screaming my name like a maniac.

"Ha, hey Vern, what's the emergency?"

"Can I take you out on Friday? You know, to make it up to you when I stapled your pinky?"

I was surprised, and actually flattered Vern remembered something for a change.

"Yeah, sure Vern, what are we gonna do?"

"Oh, it'll be great Ry, you'll see!"

The rest of the guys came up to us now and Teddy asked what we were doing after school today. We all said nothing, so we decided we're going to actually have some fun tonight.

* * *

"What the hell is this!?" I yelled at all the guys.

You wanna know what they did? They took string from a kite, and then tied it around my desk and all over my room. But the string didn't stop in my room, it continued out my window, down the block, around my neighbor's houses, around all the trees…everywhere! (A.N.- True story, my friends did this to me last week, ha.)

"Oh I'll get you all, you better watch your backs."

"We'd like to see you try, Ry." Teddy said with a smirk.

"Oh, you'll see Duchamp, you'll see…"

"So what are we doing tonight anyways?" Trinity asked.

"I don't know, I guess tying everything in the whole neighborhood is crossed off the list." I said sarcastically.

"Hah, yea. I say we go on an adventure." Gordie added in.

"An adventure?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, an adventure. And I know just where to go."

"Gordie, are you always planning something?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I've always got tricks up my sleeve." He laughed.

"Alright then Mr. Magician. Lead the way…"


	10. This Isn't Like Us Anyways

hey guys, hope you like the chapter and I'm loving all the reviews. :)

* * *

"This is just great. I'm just _really _loving this adventure Lachance." Trinity said, very sarcastically.

The reason she was saying this was because we were trudging through about a foot high thing of mud, in the middle of a forest. Yeah, it was pretty great…kidding.

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Gordie was pushing through a bunch of random branches poking us all in the side.

_Creak. Clank._

"Did you hear that?" Vern said all paranoid.

"Uh huh… what the hell was that?"

_Creeeaakk. Claankk._

"Oh no! It's getting closer!" I jumped on Chris and he was a little scared too, the sun had set and it was now dark out.

_Creeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaak._

"BOO!!"

"OH MY GOD!! WAHH!!"

We were all screaming like babies and flying in every direction to run and hide.

"Wait a minute, that's Paul!" I said finally seeing his face.

"You asshole!" Trinity yelled at him.

"Jesus Christ man, almost shit myself." Gordie said while recovering from the shock.

"I knew he was there all along." Teddy was coming back from where he hid, we just glared at him.

"Hey guys." Paul finally said hey after laughing so hard he almost peed. By the way, this was the Paul from English class that Trinity had talked to before.

"Wait, Paul, what are you doing out in the woods, all by yourself, after dark?" I was curious.

"I should be asking you guys the same thing…I live right there, and I heard some people so I decided to come check out what was going on."

"Well you had perfect timing, Gordie was just gonna show us something."

"Is it the meadow?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, you know about that too?" Gordie asked.

"Yup, been goin there since I was a kid. It's amazing at night."

"Yeah, it is. Well that's why I'm bringing them. You can come too, maybe you'll finally get them to stop complaining."

"Sorry not all of us like to go trudging through mud in the middle of the night Gordie." I said as I walked up to him and Paul.

"Oh suck it up Ry, it's right here…" Gordie pushed a shrub back and we entered the meadow.

It was amazing. Truly amazing. Really, words can't even describe it. There were what looked to be like millions of lightning bugs, just hundreds of them lighting up at random parts in the meadow. They were like nature's own fireworks.

We were all speechless, completely in awe.

"Gordie, this is amazing." I said wide eyed, just in disbelief.

"Isn't it?"

We stayed there for what seemed to be like hours. Just laying there. None of us had to speak, our disbelief and awe pretty much just said everything for us. It was grand.

--

"Hey Ryan! Ready for our date?" Vern was at my door step in a nice polo and jeans.

"Man, Vern. You look sharp, I'm impressed." I was looking him up and down.

It was weird. Vern always acted like a little kid, but in reality he wasn't. He was starting to fill out and lose all the baby fat. I was pretty sure he was a couple inches taller than me now, but I would always think of him as the pudgy little Vern.

"Well, I try…" He said with an awkward, innocent smile.

"Ha, oh Verno. So where are we going?" I asked while walking out the door with him.

"Go-cart racing!" Vern's face had lit up, and so had mine.

"Vern! No way! How did you know I always wanted to go go-cart racing?"

"Timmy told me. He said you guys used to do it all the time back in San Diego."

"Aw, thanks Vern! Who knew you could be so sweet?" I was really flattered with all of this, and overwhelmed. Vern wasn't the kind of person who put much thought into things.

"Ha, thanks Ryan."

"No problem Vern." I smiled and wrapped his elbow in mine as we walked to the race track.

--

"Vern, that was a blast! I can't believe I beat you and Johnny on that last turn!"

"Aw, come on Ryan! I totally would've had you if you didn't cut me off."

"Haha, cheaters always win! Well, that's my saying at least…"

"Well I'll get you next time Ry, you just wait and see."

"Ha, I'd like to see that Vern. Thanks for everything." I gave him a peck on the cheek and he got all red as I waved bye to him. Vern was so cute, he was like a little kid in a sixteen year olds body.

--

The next day was my plan of attack day for getting revenge on the guys for putting the string everywhere. You know how long that took me to cut/take down? Four hours. Four hours! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry…

Trinity and I had gone house to house and got all the guys' boxers. We were going to soak them in beer and let them dry so they smelled like winos. We only had one house left, and that was the Chambers house.

"Alright Trinity, I'm gonna go in Chris's room and you send me the signal if anyone's coming. Okay?"

"Yeah, signal, got it." She gave me a thumbs up, and the mission began.

I went into Chris's room. Well, Chris's and Eyeball's room. How does he survive sharing a room with scum? Well anyways, it was really weird actually. I had only been on the front steps of Chris's house before, and now I was sneaking into his room…

"I got um!" I half whispered half yelled to Trinity.

"Good! Come on, let's go!" She yelled back.

"COCK A DOODLE DOO!! COCK A DOODLE DOO!!" Trinity was screaming the signal like a maniac.

_Oh shit. _


	11. Waiting For You

hey guys, thanks for the reviews and i hope you like the chapter. :)

* * *

I heard the door of the Chambers house swing wide open, with some sounds that sounded like moaning and a couple of people moving all over the place, towards Chris's room… the room I was in…

_Hide Ryan, hide! _

I went under the blankets of what I hoped was Chris's bed, and I put up my hood, thanking god I wore a sweatshirt tonight.

"Come on baby…" The man whore, a.k.a Eyeball was saying to one of his sluts as he opened the door to his/Chris's room.

_I am screwed beyond belief. _

"Chris get the fuck out of here." Eyeball slurred to me.

"_Cough. _Uh.. yeah...uh…hm...yeah." I was _trying_ to make a manly voice, just praying that Eyeball would be too drunk to notice.

I practically sprinted out of the room, very happy I was able to get out of there.

"Ryan! You're alive!" Trinity jumped on me. "I thought you were a goner for sure…"

"Ha, me too! Oh lord, guess who Eyeball was with…Katie Donnelly!"

_Oh shit. Just had to open your big mouth didn't you? You know Trinity's going out with Eyeball!_

"Oh, that slut? Yeah, not surprising. She practically gets with a new guy every day." Trinity was shaking her head.

_She's not mad about this? Huh? Oh well, I'm not gonna say anything._

"Yeah, I know. Come on, let's go home and finish this revenge. Ha, the guys are gonna be so pissed tomorrow." I had a huge smile plastered across my face because I was imagining what the guys' faces were gonna look like after they saw what we had done.

"Ha yeah, shows them not to mess with Trinity Fahey or Ryan Murphy!"

"Yeah, that's right!" I chimed in.

Trinity ended up sleeping over. We talked about the normal girl stuff, you know, who likes who and he/she did what with him/her. I had to ask though, I had to ask why she didn't get mad about the Eyeball/Katie thing earlier.

"You know why I didn't get mad Ry? It's because I knew it would happen. I just knew it. Eyeball really wasn't that great of a guy anyways, I think the only reason I said he was was because I wanted to believe he was. But, he's just like the rest of them. A man whore that fucks all the sluts."

"Spoken like a true woman Trinity. Why let some stupid man whore bring you down? I say you go for Paul."

"You know what, maybe I will. And Ryan, you know Chris likes you, and I know for a fact you like him back. Just go out with him, it might turn out better than you think."

"Yeah, you're right. I worry too much don't I?"

"Yeah, but so does everybody else. Right?"

"Right, well I'm going to bed. G'night Trinity."

"Night Ryan."

--

"Ew! What's that smell?"

All the guys and I were walking through the halls at school, and random people were disgusted by the smell coming from the guys' boxers.

"Thanks Ry, just thanks. I smell like my dad after he comes home from Vegas." Gordie was shaking his head.

"Haha, told you guys you better watch your backs. Oh, almost forgot. When I went to steal the boxers from Chris's room, Eyeball came in."

"Eyeball came in!?" Chris spat out.

"Yup, but he didn't know it was me. I put up my hood and tried to do a manly voice. Luckily he was drunk, or I would've been screwed."

"Yeah, you would've."

I decided to not tell them that Katie was also with Eyeball. Teddy would've had a fit.

--

"WATCH OUT!!"

I was flying down the hill on my sled with Timmy, and we were about to crash right into Teddy.

"Oh shit!"

It was too late, Teddy had fallen onto the sled with us and we were going straight for the lake.

"FLIP OFF! FLIP OFF!" I was screaming at them to flip off the sled so we all wouldn't end up in the lake. Luckily everyone listened because the next thing we know we're off the sled and the sled is sinking to the bottom of the lake.

"Haha, man you should've seen your faces!" Gordie and Chris were laughing so hard they could barely breathe.

"Maybe next time you guys can be the ones that fly into the lake. Hey, where's Vern?" I asked while looking around.

"Help me!" Vern was yelling.

Wanna know why Vern needed help? He had tried to climb over the fence to get to the hill, but his snow pants got stuck on part of the fence. So, he ended up just hanging there on the fence. It had to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. (A.N. - This happened to one of my friends, it was hilarious.)

We were all too busy laughing to go over and help Vern, but we finally got over there to help him down.

"Thought you guys would never come!"

We all bursted out laughing again, remembering what Vern looked like when he was stuck.

It was the winter now, Christmas had already passed. I just got some new clothes and movie posters. Timmy got weights (he asked for them…) and some clothes too. Oh, and I finally got my cast off. It had been pretty quiet at school and around town for a couple of months now. Time was just flying by…

--

"Did you hear about Tolman and Sandra?" I was asking Chris because we had a substitute teacher in English.

"Yeah! Man, I didn't know he would be that much of a creep. Is he going to jail?"

"I don't know, but I heard Sandra liked him back. So I guess it's not rape or anything like that, she let him do it."

"That's sick."

Chris and I were talking about Sandra and Mr. Tolman because they had been caught doing you know what in the balcony after school.

"I heard she's moving. Can't handle all the attention she's getting now. At least she gets to start over again." I said to Chris.

"Yeah, sometimes I wish I could start over too."

"Oh, come on Chris, you're getting above your reputation now. For Christ's sake you got all A's on your last report card!"

"Yeah, but it's not the reputation part, it's the family part. I don't like having a brother that likes to hurt my friends, especially you Ry."

"It's okay Chris, I try not to think about Eyeball anyways. I can take care of myself now, kind of."

"Ry, you know he could take advantage of you in a second. I just hate how he does that to you." Chris said, apologetic.

"Yeah, but it's okay. I'll just avoid him if that's alright with you."

"Ha, yeah it's alright with me. What are you doing after school today?"

"Nothing I think. Why?"

"Want to go to somewhere with me?" He asked.

"With you? Oh I don't know Chris, I heard you have a bad reputation…Ha I'm just kidding. Of course I'll go somewhere with you."

"Ha, okay good. I'll pick you up at six."

"Okay, bye Chris!"

Chris left and I realized I forgot to ask him where we were going. Oh well, I liked surprises.

* * *

Sorry for the filler chapter guys, something good is coming up though. :)

Side Note: What color do you guys like better, gold or silver? By the way, this does have a point to it...


	12. I Know What I Know

hey everyone, so it's at a tie between gold and silver, I'm kind of still undecided on what color to pick... Oh well, i'll pick later. Hope you guys like the chapter and thanks for the feedback and the reviews. :)

* * *

I was standing in my room getting ready to go out with Chris. I decided to wear my nicest pair of jeans and one of my new shirts. I also let my hair hang down and brushed it so it didn't look like a rat's nest. That's what my mom always called hair that had a bunch of knots in it, don't ask.

"Hey Chris! Man, someone cleans up well. I'm impressed."

Chris was wearing the polo I got him for Christmas and one of his old pairs of jeans, but the outfit looked really nice for him.

"Aw, thanks Ry. You don't look to bad yourself." He was all smiles when we were driving to wherever he was taking me.

We pulled up to the lake where we had been so many times before. Chris got out of the car and got some blankets and brought out a food basket. Who knew Chris was such the romantic?

"Chris! Since when did you become the romantic?" I laughed.

"Ha. I don't know Ry, must've happened overnight. Anyways, I owed you one."

"Owed me for what?"

"Well you've gone through a lot of trouble with Eyeball and all, so this is my way of making it up to you."

"Chris! You don't have to make something up to me because of Eyeball, but this is really nice. And Chris, let's not talk about Eyeball anymore."

"Yeah, no more Eyeball. He's messed up enough stuff already."

"Yup that's right. So Chris, what was the real reason you took me here today?"

"The real reason?"

"Yup. The real reason."

I already knew the real reason, I just wanted to hear him say it. This was a date, and Chris was not really good at disguising it.

"It's because," Chris hesitated before speaking, "I really like you Ryan." He was turning red like a little kid who just told his big secret.

"Really, you like me? I had always thought you hated me... ha, only kidding. And by the way, I like you too." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek, knowing that from now on we were a little more than friends.

The rest of the night Chris and I talked. We talked about everything, and not once did the Cobras come up in the conversation. It was really fun actually.

--

More months passed by, Chris and I had been together for about three months now. It was March by the way, and school was almost coming to an end.

"Well look at these lovebirds." Gordie said to Chris and me as we were walking together towards them.

It didn't bother the other guys that we were going out, in fact, they didn't mind at all. Nothing really had changed between our friendship with them, so it was all good.

"Ha, you shouldn't be talking Gordie. What about you and Emily? Hmm?"

"Hey, what about me?" Emily chimed in as she walked up to us.

"Hey Em." We all said.

Emily and Gordie had been going out for about the same amount of time as Chris and I had. Emily had just moved here about four months ago, and she was a really cool person, just a little shy. Like Gordie.

"So, we still on for that movie tonight?" Chris asked me.

"Yeah, Gordie, are you and Em coming?"

"Yup, we're coming to your house at seven right?"

"Yup." I nodded.

"Man, I feel so left out…It's alright I already had plans." Teddy said.

"And who might these plans be with?" I asked.

"Oh no one, just Tricia Parker."

"TRICIA PARKER!? As in the Castle View Tricia Parker?!" I was in disbelief. Tricia was from Castle View, where all the rich/stuck up kids came from.

"Yup, that's right. So you kids have fun tonight." Teddy waved bye with a big smile across his face, probably thinking about ways to get into Tricia's pants.

"Teddy continues to surprise me. Well, I'll see you guys later."

We all left in different directions and went to go prepare for the night.

--

"Who knew it could take girls so long to get ready?" Gordie asked Chris as Emily and I came down from my room.

"But don't we look good though?" I asked Gordie. Emily and I had on skirts with nice shirts.

"Yeah, but I think you girls look beautiful all the time."

"Always the charmer Chris, always the charmer…" I said as I smiled.

--

We got to the movie theatre right when the previews were rolling. Emily and I were sitting in the middle between the guys.

"Well isn't this cute. A double date. You girls should come with me and I'd show you how to have a _real _good time…" Eyeball whispered into my ear.

_Great._


	13. A Dead Future

hey guys, thanks for all the reviews and I hope you like the chapter. :)

* * *

"Eyeball, only your voice could make me want to throw up." I said not looking at him, just focusing on the screen in front of me.

"Oh, come on Ryan. I'm not that bad…"

"Eyeball get the hell out of here before I really do throw up."

Eyeball walked away because the people around us, including me, Chris, Gordie, and Em, were all about to kick his ass.

The whole rest of the movie we felt random pieces of popcorn flying at us. It was Eyeball and Charlie Hogan, if you wanted to know.

"I swear to god I'm gonna bust a cap in their ass if they don't stop in two seconds." Chris was extremely tense and frustrated.

"Chris, it's all right, just ignore them. If you say something or do something to them it just makes them want to do it more."

"Yeah, you're right." Chris became less tense and wrapped his arm around me, trying just to focus on the movie.

The credits rolled and we said bye to Gordie and Emily. I really liked the movie actually, it wasn't one of those beach movies they were playing all the time now, it was different.

"So, how'd you like the movie?" Chris asked.

"I liked it a lot, it was different from the movies I've been seeing lately. Did you like it?"

"Yeah, did you happen to notice Tricia and Teddy in the corner of the theatre?" He said with a smirk.

"Ha, how could I miss it? They were practically having sex right in the middle of a movie theatre."

"Only Teddy…" Chris was shaking his head.

"Yeah, told you he's just one big surprise."

"Yeah, I know it. So, do you want to go with me and the guys to the Yard tomorrow?"

"Excuse me, did you just say 'the Yard', as in the number one place where the Cobras hang out?"

"Yeah, the rest of the guys are coming too. We have some 'business' to attend to."

"Oh no! Not again! What if they find out, then what happens? Hmm? Here I'll tell you what happens… you wake up with a huge shiner and two broken legs. That's what happens!"

"Hold your horses there Ryan. The Cobras are never gonna find out. They are all going to the annual Spring Fest Drag Races. They'll be gone the whole day, maybe even two days if Ace ends up winning most of the races, which he normally does." Chris said while trying to reassure me.

"Oh yeah! Okay good, then I'm in. Wait, what are we gonna do?"

"Oh you'll see…" The way Chris said this was a little creepy, and little did we all know, in less than 24 hours all of us would be in the _biggest_ pickle any of us had been in in our entire lives.

--

"You guys ready to go?"

We were all in the Lachance's front yard waiting to leave for whatever we were going to do. All of us were extremely nervous, but no one would admit it.

"I already told Timmy if I get killed he could keep my movie posters collection."

"Oh shut up Ryan! Sincerely." Vern was about ready to piss his pants, he just kept thinking about the Cobras kicking his ass again. I flinched at the thought.

"Ha, sorry Vern. Come on, let's go."

--

The Yard looked like a piece of crap, as usual. "So you guys gonna tell me what you're gonna do?"

"Yup. We're gonna take the engines out of all their cars. Each and every one of them…" Teddy said with an evil glint in his eye.

I was speechless. I mean _anything_ would be better than that. Anything! Seriously, they had a death wish. One big fat death wish.

"Ry, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost…" Gordie said while staring at me.

"I did see a ghost. It was the ghost of Ryan's future, a dead future! Are you guys nuts!! This is huge! They seriously _will_ kill us! You know that right?"

"Yeah we know it, but they're not gonna find out. After a day or two without their engines, we'll come back and put um back in. It's not like we're taking them forever."

"Alright, as long as we put them back."

"We will, now come help us so we can get outta here." Gordie and I walked over to where the other guys were already taking out engines.

My job was to stand guard, and I liked my job. It was better than feeling guilty while taking out the Cobras engines…but then I saw something. Something I saw and felt that I will remember for years to come.


	14. I Guess We're Alone Now

hey everybody, thanks for the reviews and I hope you like the chapter :)

* * *

I saw Eyeball Chambers. Eyeball Chambers walking towards where the guys were, and seriously, this was the _worst_ feeling. Ever. My heart hadn't just dropped to my feet, it had dropped so hard it practically dug a hole in the ground, if you get what I'm saying. To put it easier, we were screwed.

So I had to do something. I thought fast and just went and did it.

I grabbed Eyeball and threw him behind a shed before the guys saw him coming.

_What are you thinking Ryan. You know he is 100 times stronger than you and he can take advantage of you in a second. What are you thinking!?_

Yeah I had no idea what I was thinking.

"Ryan…? Why the fuck are you holding me down?"

I didn't answer. I was just frozen. Why was I holding him down?

"Won't tell me huh?" Eyeball grabbed my wrists and slammed me to the ground.

_Here we go again…_

"Ryan, why are you here?" I tried to struggle out, but I was boxed in.

"You already know you can't get out Ryan. Now tell me, why are you here?"

"Eyeball, I um, well…"

"You know I'm not letting you go till I have an answer."

"_Why do boys always have to be so aggressive…" _I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…ugh. Why can't you just get off of me!?"

**Chris's POV**

_"Nothing…ugh. Why can't you just get off of me!?"_

Oh shit. Ryan was with Eyeball, once again.

"Guys, we have to get over there."

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Vern just kept repeating that to himself.

"Vern, god dammit! Just shut up for a second, I need to think." I crawled over to get closer so I could hear what they were saying.

**Ryan's POV**

"Just tell me Ryan." I was struggling even harder now.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me!" He was shoving me down more now, and it hurt like hell.

"Ugh!! Fine!! I want to go out with you!"

Now I thought long and hard about what I had just said to Eyeball. There were two choices I could have made. I could've let Eyeball have seen the guys, and I knew if Eyeball saw the guys that he would get the Cobras and they would've seriously killed us if they had found out. So I couldn't let that happen, I needed to save their asses and get Eyeball out of there before he could see anyone or anything.

"What was that?" He said, loosening his grip.

"I want to go out with you! I've wanted to go out with you! I came here to find you…to ask you…"

**Chris's POV**

"_I want to go out with you! I've wanted to go out with you! I came here to find you…to ask you…"_

"Oh my god." I heard Gordie say behind me.

"What is she thinking?" Teddy asked.

"She's brilliant." I said.

"Chambers, have you gone loony?" Teddy asked while giving me a concerned look.

"No guys, she's saving our asses. If her and Eyeball leave to go on a date, he'll forget all about what he came here for and the Cobras won't kill us."

"Man, Ryan's got some brains." Gordie said pretty impressed.

"Of course she has brains you idiot. Now shut up." Teddy said while crawling by where I sat.

**Ryan's POV**

Yes, I did it. I came up with a plan and I hoped it would work.

"Really? I'm surprised Ryan…"

"Didn't I say I wanted to give you a chance?"

"Yeah, was that before or after you said I would always be an ass?"

_Shit. Why did he have to remember that._

"That was a while ago Eyeball. I know you've changed. Come on, let's go somewhere…Please…?"

It was so sickening to be sweet talking Eyeball. Really, it was like reaching an all time low.

"Yeah let's get out of here, I know exactly where we can go…"

He picked me up from the ground and carried me to the car.

"Eyeball, why are you carrying me."

"Just making sure you won't run anywhere, and don't tell me you wouldn't try to run."

He was right. I probably would've run…

**Chris's POV**

"Dude, we gotta go find her." Gordie said while pulling me to get up.

"Sincerely!" Vern piped up.

"Yeah come on. Hey Teddy, still know how to hot wire a car?" I asked while getting up.

"Are you kidding me Chambers? How could I forget?" He said with a smirk.

"Good, come on let's go, we gotta find her fast."

_Why is Eyeball such an ass..._

**Ryan's POV**

_This is so stupid. I'm so screwed. Really, good thing it was worth it. I can't imagine what the Cobras would've done if they found out what we did…_

"So Eyeball, where are we going?"

"The View."

_Gulp._


	15. I Give Up

hey guys, thanks for the reviews and I hope you like the chapter :)

* * *

Let me tell you something about the View that everyone knows. It's a place where all the teens go to… well, let's just say it's not a place where you go to eat ice cream cones together.

"The View, why the View? Can't we just go to Blue Point Di-"

"Ryan, we go where I say and you don't argue. Okay?"

"Mhm…"

I was so screwed. Sooooo screwed.

**Chris's POV**

"Hey Al, have you seen Ryan or Eyeball? Or Eyeball's car?"

"No, sorry kid. I'll tell you if I see them though. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." _I hope…_

I ran out of Blue Point Diner and saw Teddy, Gordie, and Vern all running around asking random people if they saw Ryan or Eyeball, or Eyeball's car.

We were screwed. Sooooo screwed. At this rate, we would never find her.

**Ryan's POV**

"Here Ryan, have this it'll _loosen _you up…" Eyeball passed me a beer while we were pulling into the View.

"No it's okay, I don't drink."

"You do now. Now drink."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks." I rolled down the window and every time he looked away I would let some of the beer drain out.

"All done? Have another…"

I repeated this process another five times.

"Alright looks like we're ready…"

_Oh no, I'm not ready, not ready!_

Eyeball leaned in and I couldn't help it, I had to kiss him. He tasted like an ash tray. I was disgusted, he just kept trying to shove his tongue down my throat but I wouldn't let him, I couldn't…

"What are you prude?" He asked.

"No, it's just…"

"Come on Ryan." He said while leaning in and pushing me towards the back seat.

_I can't take this anymore._

"Eyeball. Stop."

"Says who?"

I was about to yell something at him, but luck must have been on my side because the next thing I know he's passed out on top of me.

_Thank god for alcohol…_

**Chris's POV**

"Guys, I think I might know where they are. It's where Eyeball takes all his first dates. I just hope I'm wrong…"

"Come on then Chambers! Let's go!"

We all got in the car, pushing about 70 miles an hour down a 30 mph road, hoping it wasn't too late…

**Ryan's POV**

_Just my luck. I'm stuck with a drunk Eyeball on top of me. Well, at least it's better than an Eyeball that's awake…_

I was trying to push Eyeball off of me, and it really wasn't working. He was like dead weight.

I saw a car pull up and heard people running towards our car, then the car door flung open.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE BASTARD SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!!"

Teddy!! I loved him.

Chris and Teddy pulled Eyeball off of me while Gordie and Vern brought me to the car.

I just slumped in the seat, feeling disgusted. Why did Eyeball have to be such an ass?

"Ryan, I'm so sorry. We never should have tried to cut out the Cobra's engines. It's our entire fault."

"Yeah Ryan, sincerely. I'm so sorry." Gordie and Vern kept saying sorry, but I was just lost in my own thoughts.

Teddy and Chris got back in the car after checking if Eyeball really was passed out. Luckily he was, and we just drove home in silence.


	16. There's No Way Around It

hey guys, sorry for not updating in a while, hope you like the chapter though. :)

* * *

"You okay Ry?"

The next day Chris and I were on my back porch on the bench.

"Yeah, probably should be used to it by now anyways." I shrugged.

"Why the fuck does he have to be like that?" Chris was obviously pissed about his brother.

"Because he's a Cobra and it's like their job to be an ass." I smiled a weak smile, but I was still upset about all that had happened. All my emotions were just bottled up, and I just needed to get them out somehow.

So I leaned in for the kiss, and it was a pure and simple kiss. Chris wasn't trying to shove his tongue down my throat. He was being Chris, the gentleman he always was, and I had felt at that moment, cleansed of all emotion.

"What was that?" He said with a smirk.

"My way of saying thank you. Also, I wanted to tell you, I've um, well, uh…I like you!" I was mocking Chris from when he had first told me he liked me.

"Well, uh, um… I like you too!"

We both laughed and walked back into my house, both feeling relieved.

"Hey, I got an idea." I said while opening the screen door.

"This doesn't happen to be an idea to have revenge on a certain gang…right?"

"Ha, no. I'm done with that. Let's go to the tree house, I'll bring Tim too."

"Alright, I think the other guys are already there."

"Good. Now come on, time's a wasting!" I grabbed Chris and called for Timmy to come with us.

"I'm coming!!" Timmy came sprinting down the stairs like a bolt of lightning.

--

The next week at school I think about 80 people came up to me and asked if I was okay. News spreads like wildfire in this town…

"Hey Ryan, you feeling better?"

"Yeah Trinity. Eyeball's an asshole and I'm just gonna have to deal with it."

"I should've listened to you from the start. Man, I always thought he was low but I didn't know he was that low. I'm sorry Ry."

"It's not your fault. Come on, I'm sick of talking about this. Wanna come with me and the guys to the drive in tonight? You can bring Paul, Gordie's bringing Emily."

"Alright, I'll go. What time should I come over?"

"Um, come at six. I'll see you then."

"Alright, bye Ry."

I waved bye and walked off to my car.

--

"Dude, Vern. Don't even joke about that, Batman could kick Superman's ass any day."

"But Superman has all the superpowers!"

"Yeah, but Batman's a real guy. He doesn't need superpowers to kick Superman's ass. Think Vern, think."

This was the conversation I overheard Teddy and Vern having as they walked through my door.

"Sorry Vern, but Teddy's right. Batman could kick Superman's ass any day." I added in.

"Yeah, maybe you guys are right." Vern looked defeated and grabbed a piece of left over cake out of my fridge.

"Hey, I was gonna eat that."

"Sorry…" Vern said with cake stuffed in his mouth. I laughed and turned to Teddy.

"So when are the other guys coming?"

"Gordie told me he might be late cause he was gonna have sex with Emily before he came." Teddy smirked.

"What the hell Duchamp!?" I said as I hit him.

"Ha, I'm only kiddin Ry. He said he'd be here soon, just had to pick up Em."

Right after Teddy finished his sentence Gordie, Em, Trinity, Paul, and Chris all came in like a tidal wave, just all at one time. All their faces were beat red like they had just ran the mile, and they were all trying to shove each other through the doorway.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's the problem here?" Teddy said like he was pretending to be a cop.

"Ace and Eyeball. And guess who they're lookin for?" Chris asked everyone.

"Ryan." They all said in unison while turning to me.

"Oh yey." I said sarcastically. "I guess I'll be right back."

"You're not really going out there, are you?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I'm going out there. Knowing them they're going to keep bugging me until I talk to them, so I might as well go now. Just don't let me get kidnapped again, alright?" I smirked as I nudged Chris's elbow.

"Yeah, well just watch out for yourself Ry. I'll be right here anyways if they try anything on you."

"Alright Chris. Well, I'll be right back." I went to walk out the door before I was stopped.

"Ry, don't go out there! It's like feeding yourselves to the wolves!" Timmy piped up out of the blue, I had no idea where he came from.

"Ha, it's alright Tim. You'll protect me if anything happens right?" I laughed and wrapped my arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer to me.

"Um, uh, yeah! I'd protect you!" He was still deathly afraid of the Cobras, and was still not good at hiding it.

"Good. Now I'll be right back, stay with Chris and them till I come back. Okay?"

"Yeah okay, good idea." He said while running off. I laughed and walked out to see what the problem was with Ace and Eyeball.


	17. Spirals

Thanks for the reviews :) and I've got a pretty long chapter for you guys here... hope you like it.

* * *

Ace's head was leaning out the driver's seat window, and I could see Eyeball in the passenger's seat. I turned around to look at my house because I was guessing Chris and everyone else were watching me like a hawk, and I was right, they were.

"What's up Ryan?" Ace said coolly. Ace's voice was always permanently embedded in my mind, his voice just had that menacing feel to it, even when he wasn't trying to be menacing.

"Cut the crap Ace and just tell me why you're here." I said while crossing my arms.

Ace didn't say anything and I stormed off back towards my house. Seriously, who do they think they are? They can't just waltz into my life like nothing happened.

Eyeball and him stepped out of the car and walked over towards me, "Hey, hold up there Ryan." They both grabbed my arms, "You're not goin anywhere, just stay put for a second."

"_You're not goin anywhere Ryan." _The words rung through my head, remembering what had happened last summer and recently. I was almost getting panicky, I'd heard those words too many times before to not get panicky.

They were towering over me. A feeling of worry rushed over me, I just didn't want any repeats of the past.

"Don't _fucking_ touch me." I said this in a completely calm voice. They both looked at each other knowingly and then dropped my arms.

"You know, I don't do this often Ryan. So listen and listen good…" Eyeball started. He hesitated before talking again.

"I really did like you before, just know that." Eyeball finished. Ace just rolled his eyes and went back into the car, he could give a rat's ass about other people's feelings.

I just looked at him. What the hell was he doing? It was almost like I didn't want him to say he actually liked me because it was so out of character for him. Why couldn't he just stay mean so I could continue hating him?

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what?"

"Messing with my emotions! Messing with everything! You hurt my friends, and you hurt me. And now you're trying to be nice and sincere like nothing ever happened!"

"I just thought it was the right thing to tell the truth, okay Ryan? Would you rather me have not done anything and gone and hurt you and your friends some more? Huh? Would you like that Ryan?"

We were both silent and just looked at each other. Eyeball finally broke the gaze and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground.

I walked closer towards him, saying my final words.

"Eyeball, just leave me alone. I just don't want to deal with this anymore."

He looked up knowingly, nodding his head. I returned the same knowing look and then walked away, right back into my house.

--

"You guys can stop pretending like you weren't listening anymore." I said while walking into the house.

"What? Psh, why would be listening?"

"Yeah, so immature…"

They were all trying to cover their tracks. They didn't need to because it was obviously apparent they were listening since I could see all of them out of the corner of my eye when I was talking to Eyeball.

_Flash. CRACK!_

"Shit, well there goes our plan for the drive-in movie…" Chris said while looking outside at the storm coming in.

"Of course, this just always happens to me. The one time I actually want to see a movie." Vern was shaking his head.

"So what do we do now?" Teddy asked.

We all just sat there, and then I guess a light bulb went off in Paul's head.

"Dude, we can have a mudslide!"

"Paul, how the hell are we gonna have a mudslide?" Gordie asked.

"Easy. You know the big hill up on Mulberry Street? We can make one there."

"Where the hell do you come up with these things?" I asked.

"I don't know, I guess it's a talent. Come on before it stops raining."

We all got up to go on this rather strange adventure. This was going to be interesting.

--

"YAHOO!!"

We were all sliding down the mudslide, it was pretty much like sledding except way messier.

"Hey Ryan, I think you have something on your face there…" Chris walked over towards me.

"Really? Where is it?"

"It's right… HERE!" Right when Chris said 'here' he slapped mud all over my face.

"Oh, ho. You better watch out Chambers." I wiped the mud off my face and attacked.

"MUD FIGHT!!" Teddy screamed and started throwing mud like he was in a battle.

"Guys! You're ruining my clothes!" Emily yelled.

"Maybe you shouldn't have worn a dress to a mud war…" Gordie suggested while throwing a big glob at her.

"Fine. Bring it on Lachance!" She grabbed two handfuls of mud and jumped on him.

It ended up being a battle of guys versus girls. Chris and I were practically on top of each other on the ground, just smashing mud in each other's faces.

"Ha, alright you win!" I yelled, but Chris still smashed mud in my face.

"Sorry, what was that?" He laughed while smashing mud on me again.

"UGH, you win!!"

"VICTORY!!" Teddy yelled while throwing mud up in the air.

"You guys might have won this time, but this battle isn't over…" I said while getting up.

"You girls just keep telling yourselves that." Teddy laughed.

Me, Trinity and Emily all just looked at each other with a knowing look. We all grabbed mud and threw it at Teddy at the same time.

"Geez, harsh." He said while wiping mud off of him.

We all laughed and started walking back to my house. This had actually turned out to be a pretty fun night.

--

April. Man, how time was passing by so fast.

"Teddy! Hey Teddy, wait up!" I was running in the halls to catch up with him.

"Hey Teddy, what's-"

Before I could finish, Teddy just cut me off and mumbled, "_Hey Ryan_." Then he grabbed his books and sped down the hall.

_Weird…_

--

"You going to prom?" Chris asked. By the way, sophomores we're allowed to go to prom.

"Nope. I don't really like dances, never was the dancer."

"I can show you some moves." Chris laughed and started busting out dance moves.

"Chris, I think if you did that you'd knock someone's eye out." I laughed.

"Yeah, probably. I'm still making you go, even if it's by force." He smirked.

"But why?" I whined, "I mean, it's just another excuse to embarrass myself. Prom is just a stupid stereotypical thing for high school anyways."

"So what. Everyone else is going, it'll be fun…" He leaned in, waiting for approval.

"You're not going to stop bugging me until I say yes, right?"

"Ryan, it's like you read my mind." He smiled.

I glared at him, "Fine, I'll go. Only because I have no other choice."

"Good." He smiled.

"Is Teddy going? I haven't seen him in a while." I asked.

"I'm not sure. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him outside of school since the mud fight."

"Yeah, same here. Did you happen to notice he's been acting a little strange in school lately?"

"Yup, I thought I was the only one that noticed…"

**Teddy's POV**

_Just why did they have to find out? They found out everything. Absolutely everything. Wrong place, wrong time. Right? Well, there's no going back now._


	18. We're Gonna Pull Through

hey guys, guess what? i just got the sbm script off of ebay! ha.. it's pretty cool. Btw, thanks for the reviews!

* * *

**Ryan's POV**

"I think I'm going to go talk to him. You know, to see what's going on and stuff." I told Chris.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I'll see you later, okay Ry?"

"Yeah, see ya." He kissed me on the cheek and walked towards his house. Now all I needed to do was find Teddy.

**Teddy's POV**

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Teddy! Ryan's here to see you!" My mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

_What the hell did she want? I couldn't talk to her. I shouldn't talk to her._

"Tell her I'm not here!"

"You can't hide from me that easily." Ryan said while walking into my room.

_I need her to leave. She'll try and find out, she'll find out…_

"Teddy, I just came to ask why you've been acting weird this last month. Is something wrong?"

_Stupid, stupid girl._

**Ryan's POV**

No answer. What the hell was his problem? Was he bipolar or something?

"You know my door's always open if you want to talk…" I started again.

No answer. _Again._

"You know what Teddy, this isn't you. We both know something's wrong and it's gonna have to come out sooner or later. So just suck it up and stop being a mute, it would benefit the both of us." I kept my composure while saying this, hoping he wouldn't hit me or something. Teddy had looked like he wanted to kick some ass.

He just looked up and glared at me. I noticed he had two black eyes, a scar forming on the left side of his cheek, he was becoming skinnier, and his face was extremely flushed. Why was this happening to him?

"Teddy, what is _wrong _with you? Look at you! You're wasting away!"

No answer.

"I give up. I tried Teddy, I really am trying. Just _please _tell me what's wrong."

He looked up and gazed right into my eyes. The gaze was almost uncomfortable, like I didn't want to know what he was going to tell me. He looked like he was going to tell me something, but then he just put his head back down.

"Alright, I understand. I'll see you at school." I left and shut the door behind me.

This change was just so sudden in Teddy. I mean, how can you take a person that was so bursting with life and energy and then change him into some clinically depressed teen that sits and wastes away in his room all day? Something obviously wasn't right, and I was going to find out, even if it had its consequences.

--

I told everyone at the lunch table about my experience with Teddy. He hadn't shown up at school today. So, it was our mission to find out what was wrong with him, even if it took months. None of us were going to let a friend spiral down like that.

"I don't have a good feeling about this guys. So, I'm calling for a meeting. The lake, after school. Can you guys be there?"

"Yeah, I think so. You guys can go too right?" Chris asked.

"Yup, we'll be there." They all said.

"Good, I'll see you guys later then." I said.

"Alright, later." We all got up when the bell rang and left in our separate directions.

--

"Order! Order!" I motioned hitting a gavel on the table.

"Alright Judge Murphy, court's in session." Chris laughed.

"Good. We have brought to our attention the conditions of a dear friend, Teddy. First step is to find out exactly what has happened to him, second step is to get the man back together again. Everyone got that?" I waited for them to answer.

They all nodded.

"Good. Now who's gonna go talk to Teddy?"

They all looked at each other and then turned to me.

"You."

"Me? But you know what he did when I went to talk to him. He just completely ignored me. How is ignorance going to solve our problem?"

"Ry, you know perfectly well that you can get the info you need from Teddy." Gordie said.

"Yeah, you're right. But still, we need a plan B, or C, maybe D… Teddy's a hard one to crack."

"Yeah, but that's why we're making a plan. A plan that will even crack 'ol Teddy Duchamp." Trinity added in.

"Alright. Let's do it. Panthers on three. " Well all put our hands together, "One, two-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up. If we're giving ourselves a name, why the panthers? Why can't we be the lions, or the tigers, or the bears?" Paul asked.

"Oh my! Sorry, just had to add that in. Anyways continue…" Chris laughed.

"Because Paul, panthers are cooler than lions or tigers or bears. Duh." I laughed.

"_Fine_. Panthers on three." Paul said, defeated, as we all put our hands in.

"THREE, TWO, ONE…PANTHERS!!" We all yelled.

"Alright, I'll be back later. You guys come up with a plan, okay?"

"We got it Ry, now hurry!" They all said.

"Alright, alright I'm leavin."

I got into my old beat up Apache and was on my way. Teddy was going to crack even if it took all day.

--

"Hey Mrs. Duchamp, is Teddy home?"

"Um…" She looked around like someone was watching, "I'm sorry Hun, you just missed him. I'll tell him you stopped by."

"Oh, okay. Thank you Mrs. Duchamp."

I walked off the porch steps. Did I believe a word Mrs. Duchamp said? Hell no. Teddy was in his room trying to hide from me, and Mrs. D was just covering for him.

I walked to the side of the house where Teddy's window was. I had seen him climb out his window a million times before, I just didn't know how I was going to get up there.

I looked around and spotted something that looked half decent to climb up, hoping it'd work. So I started climbing…

_This isn't too bad. With my luck I would've fallen already by now, but I haven't yet. So just keep climbing…_

I stepped up onto a ledge,"Phew, made it." I was very relieved and began to open Teddy's window, which turned out to be locked.

_Of course his window is locked. Why didn't I think of that before?_

Time for plan B.

I saw Teddy sitting on his bed, just staring off into space.

"Teddy! Please open the window! We just need to talk!" I shouted from the ledge.

No answer. I knew that wouldn't budge him anyways, but I knew just the thing that would.

"Teddy! If you don't open this window right now I swear to god I will _never _EVER bring you over another basket of my homemade cookies!"

I saw him get up.

_Success._

But he didn't get up to open the window, all he did was shut the blinds.

_Plan C._

"God dammit Teddy! Open this god damn window now or I'll never speak to you for as long as I live! And for your information Teddy, humans can live _very _long!"

Plan C pretty much resorted to more swears and threats.

_Still _nothing. Nothing! It was time to pull out the big guns.

"Oh, ho. You asked for it Teddy Duchamp. I'm bustin through this window whether you like it or not. Three, two…"

_Uh oh._

I had slipped off the edge and was now clinging to the ledge I was once standing on.

_Oh dear lord, please let Teddy have the common sense to help me… _

"TEDDY DUCHAMP! IF YOU LET ME FALL I SWEAR TO THE HIGH HEAVENS YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE IT _IN_ TO THE ARMY AFTER WHAT I'VE DONE TO YOU!"

I heard the window slide open and saw a hand reaching out to grab me. Teddy pulled me up and practically threw me into his room.

I skidded across the wooden floor and quickly picked myself up. Teddy was back on his bed again.

"Hey Teddy. Thanks for coming to save me out there."

"_Mhm…_" He mumbled.

He was sitting in the shadows so I came closer to see what he had actually looked like. I was horrified to see what I saw.

It was even worse than before. His face looked like someone took it and smashed it against a wall 250 times. I mean, he was just awful. He looked so fragile too, like his spirit was broken. I hated seeing him like this. Everyone would hate seeing him like this. He wasn't Teddy, he was morphed into someone else.

"Teddy, I'm really worried about you. We're all worried about you, Chris, Gordie, Vern, Paul, Trinity, and Em. All of us. We want the old Teddy back, we want to know what's going on. All we want to do is help."

He finally looked up like he was about to say something.

"_I'm beyond help._" He mumbled and walked out of his room, leaving me to stand there. This was more than a kid that looked beat up. Teddy had done or seen something unspeakable, and it was going to take something more than a little talking to finally get him to crack.


	19. Pros And Cons

hey guys, school just ended so i've been writing a lot and I'll be updating a lot.

Thanks for the reviews. :)

* * *

I just kept standing there in his room. I mean, I had always been able to help people. I was always used to giving people the advice they needed and helping them about with their problems, but Teddy was different. He was broken, and I was stuck in a situation where I had no idea what to do. I was going to have to start small and end big, and I knew just the thing to do.

I started snooping, and I started looking in his drawers first.

_Baseball cards, no… paper airplanes, nope… dirty underwear, definitely not… Irby's membership card, no…wait a minute!_

An Irby's membership card? Since when did Teddy go to Irby's, let alone go there by himself? That was Cobra turf and everyone knew it, especially Teddy.

This was just getting weird, too weird.

--

I came back to the lake where everyone else was and I broke the news to them.

"Guys, I'm really concerned about Teddy. He's just, I don't even know. It's like the life was sucked out of him."

"What are we gonna do?" Vern asked, concerned.

"I don't know, but I think I know where to start. I found this in his drawer." I showed everyone the Irby's membership card, "I think I'm going to follow him into Irby's, anyone with me?"

They all looked at each other, exchanging iffy looks, then they turned back to me. I just hoped they would do this with me.

"We're in. Panthers on three?" Gordie asked.

I smiled, "Panthers on three."

"THREE, TWO, ONE… PANTHERS!!"

We all agreed at meeting up at my house at six, hoping we'd find out what was up with Teddy.

--

_Ding Dong._

I opened the door, "Hey guys, ready for some spying?" I smirked.

"Hell yeah we are. Where do we start?" Chris asked.

"I think we should stop by his house first. He's probably not going out to Irby's till like seven, right? We'll wait till he comes out of his house, then we'll follow him. I just have one question though, what are we gonna do to make him talk?" I asked.

"Don't worry Ry. Paul, Vern, Gordie and me have got that all planned out already." He said with a glint in his eyes, I looked over to Paul, Vern, and Gordie and they all had the same look.

"Alright Chambers, just don't go doing anything drastic, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it, I got it. Come on, let's get out of here and do ourselves some spying."

"PANTHERS! Whoot, Whoot!" Paul chanted while we all ran out the door. All of us had adrenaline pumping through our veins, anticipating on what we were going to find out that night.

If only I hadn't found out what happened that night.

--

"THERE HE IS!" Vern whispered, a very loud whisper, that is.

"VERN! Shut the hell up, he'll hear us!" Gordie hissed while hitting him.

"Sorry." Vern sunk back down.

Teddy was coming down from his bedroom window, the same routine he did every time he snuck out of his house.

We waited until he was about half a block away from us until we came out of hiding.

"I think we can go now, you guys ready?" Chris asked while coming out from behind the bushes.

"Yeah, we're ready." Trinity said and we all got up, following Teddy all the way to Irby's.

--

"Alright, we officially know he goes to Irby's," Chris said while we watched Teddy walk into the pool hall, "We gotta send in bait, who wants to be the bait?" He asked, particularly looking at Me, Emily, and Trinity. I knew what he was thinking.

"Oh, no. No _way _am I sucking up to one of the Cobras again. You _know_ how that always ends up working out." I said.

I knew Chris' plan was to have one of us girls flirt with one of the Cobras, probably either Ace or Eyeball, since they would probably have some info on what was happening with Teddy. If Teddy had been hanging out at Irby's for all this time now, then this thing that had sucked the life out of him must have had something to do with the Cobras, if any of that makes sense.

Bottom line was the Cobras were involved in this somehow, and we all knew it.

I looked over and Emily walked up to Chris and me.

"I'll go." She squeaked out.

We all just stared at her with a confused look. No offense to Em, but there was no way she'd be able to deal with one of the Cobras, let alone Ace or Eyeball.

"What, no. You can't go Em, you're too nice. Guys like the Cobras will chew you up and spit you out the first chance they get." Gordie said, concerned.

I thought the same thing Gordie did, but then a light bulb went off, "No, it's perfect. She's perfect."

"_What_?" They all asked me, even Emily was surprised.

"Don't you see it? Ace is always looking for a challenge, and Em's a perfect challenge for him. She's the nice, innocent girl, he's the villain who's up to anything. She'll stump him because we all know that Em has no attraction to Ace whatsoever. And when Ace sees that Em doesn't like him, he'll try and fight for her even more. Ace is used to getting what he wants, and with Em, he won't get what he wants. Does that make sense?"

They all just looked at me with a blank stare, then Chris finally snapped out of it and spoke up, "Yeah, yeah I see it. That could work."

"Alright, good. Now Em, we'll all be out here watching you like a hawk if they try anything on you." I said, she looked extremely worried.

"Yeah, okay. Don't get mad at me if this doesn't work out, I'm just not used to flirting with guys."

"It's alright Em. Now let's hurry up and get this over with."

"Yeah, wish me luck." She was extremely tense.

"Good luck." I smiled. This was going to either be really bad or really good, at this point it could go either way.


	20. Now Or Never

hey guys, thanks for the reviews :)

* * *

**Emily's POV**

I walked into Irby's, welcomed by a huge cloud of second-hand smoke. I was extremely nervous, what was I thinking? Why did I volunteer as the bait? Oh well, I had to do this to help Teddy, even if it meant flirting with... him.

I looked around for Teddy, but it was hard to see anything through the smoke.

"Hi." I heard a strangely menacing voice behind me.

I turned around, my nerves rushing back into me again. This was Ace. I know knew why Ry hated him so much, he really was menacing and scary looking.

"Hi." I managed to squeak out.

"What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" He asked while leaning on the pool table and giving me the once over.

"Just looking for some guys. I haven't found any yet…"

_Just looking for some guys?! My flirting skills are pathetic…_

"What, you don't like me?"

"I do like you, it's just…" I started.

"Just…?" He asked while leaning down towards me.

"Just, um… I have a dentist appointment to catch. Goodnight!"

I ran out of there, I was such a screw up!

**Ryan's POV**

_"Just, um… I have a dentist appointment to catch. Goodnight!" _

"_A dentist appointment_?" I mumbled as I smacked my head. My plan had foiled, poor Em definitely cracked under the pressure.

"I'm so sorry guys! It's just, I can't flirt with guys, especially when put under pressure. I'm so sorry."

"Em, it's alright, it's alright. Ryan can go in." Gordie said.

"What?" I asked, kind of offended. Gordie knew I still hadn't recovered from the Eyeball incident.

"I'm sorry Ry, it's just you're our only hope of getting a Cobra to confess what's wrong with Teddy…" He started, looking over at Chris like they both knew what he was gonna say next.

"What do you mean…?"

"I mean," He hesitated, then spit it out.

"Eyeball likes you and you can get the info we need in a heartbeat from him. He can't refuse you and you know it, we all know it."

I stood there, thinking about it, just taking it all in.

"Yeah, you're right." I said, defeated.

"I'm really sorry Ryan. It's just the only way to help Teddy now. You know that right?" Gordie asked.

"Yeah, I know it. It's just why does it always end up in this battle against us and the Cobras? Can't they just leave us alone once and for all? Really, is that too much to ask?"

"We all suffer from the Cobras Ry, some more than others. It's just Teddy needs us now and we're all just gonna have to pull through for him, okay?" Chris said.

"Okay." I stated, but then I thought about something, "How do we even know this has something to do with the Cobras? What if it doesn't have anything to do with them whatsoever?"

"Well, that's what we need to find out. You ready to do this?"

"Yeah, ready. Teddy better get down on his hands and knees and thank us for this someday."

"Ha, yeah he better." Chris and I laughed a nervous laugh, and I walked into Irby's.

I scoped out the scene and saw Ace with Charlie sitting at the bar, and Eyeball was with Billy finishing up a game of pool.

I walked up to Eyeball, "Ryan?!" He asked, shocked.

I grabbed his arm and shoved him into the girl's bathroom.

"Woah, Ryan. If you wanted to get aggressive we could've just gone back to my place…" He smirked and I just stared at him, not in the mood to play his little games.

"Eyeball, look at me. Do you _really_ like me?"

"Why the hell would I like you?"

I just glared at him, waiting for a better answer.

"Okay, I like you a little."

"Good. Then you're going to do something for me."

"Woah, hold on there. Who says I'm doing something for _you_?"

"Eyeball, this is my playing field. You do what I say and I forgive you, you don't do what I say and you'll never hear from me again. Got it?"

"Who knew such forceful words could come out of a girl like you." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes and told him what he was going to do.

"You know Teddy?"

"That wet end? Yeah, what about him?"

"Have you noticed him hanging out around here a lot lately?"

"Yeah, Ace ruffed him up a bit the first time he came in here. But man, did he put up a fight. Ace almost got a black eye from that little wet…"

"Okay, I get it. All I want you to do is find out why Teddy's been coming around here lately, got it?"

"That's it? Piece of cake. Are there any rules?" He said with a glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, don't kill him, no matter how much he pisses you off. He's been going through a lot lately, I can tell. Just please find out what's been going on with him, alright?"

"Yeah, alright. The only reason I'm even thinking about doing this is because I kind of feel bad about what I did to you. You know that right?"

"Yeah, I know. Meet me at the lake tomorrow at noon so we can talk about this."

"Okay. What if he doesn't tell me anything?" He asked while I was walking out the door.

"Well then, I guess you're shit out of luck for you ever thinking I'd forgive you." I smirked and closed the door. Who knew Eyeball could be like putty in my hands…

--

The next morning we were all back at the lake again. I still hadn't told them who I was meeting up with…

"Uh, guys… I forgot to tell you one little detail about last night…" I started.

"Alright, what is it?" Chris asked.

"Um, well…"

"Just tell us Ry."

"Yeah, we don't got all day." Paul added in.

"Come on Ry!" They were all pleading now.

"Alright, alright. Hold your horses. Well, Eyeball's meeting me here at noon, and well… He doesn't expect anyone else to be here when he comes but me…"

"So you're saying you want us to scram?" Gordie asked, putting the point across.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Maybe we shouldn't do this. You know, this Eyeball thing. I mean, we're crossing over into Cobra territory here. Getting the enemy on our side? A _cobra?_ I don't like this…" Vern shook his head.

"You guys talk about them like they're the fricken devil in gang form. We need the Cobra's help and that's just how it's gonna be. Got it?" Chris said, annoyed.

I was actually surprised at how much he agreed to the Cobras thing. I realized he was trying to make things easier on me by going on my side about the Cobras helping us situation, and I thought that was really big of him. Chris probably hated the Cobras the most out of all of us, but he knew what was right for Teddy.

We all nodded our heads in agreement.

"Good. So we'll see you later Ry?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll be here."

"Alright. Oh, and don't think you're getting out of telling us every detail. We wanna be a part of this too."

"Duh, you guys are totally a part of this. And don't worry, I'll have a full report with details when I see you guys later. Okay?"

"Alright. Good luck."

"Thanks, bye guys."

Right after they left it was about 11:55 am. Only five minutes till noon, and I was both excited and nervous to find out what Eyeball knew about Teddy. This was going to be an interesting day.

--

I wasn't the happiest camper when Eyeball showed up an hour late. I just kept reminding myself to calm down and that he was here to help, no matter how late he showed up.

"Glad you finally decided to show up." I said to him, rather annoyed while he walked towards me from his car.

"Yeah, well I got a little caught up." He smirked and wiped lipstick off his face, I saw that his shirt was unbuttoned too.

"You're disgusting."

"Sorry I'm not up to your standards, babe. Now are we gonna do this thing or not?"

I wanted so much to punch him in the nuts right then, but I reminded myself that this was all for Teddy.

"Yeah, whatever. Just tell me what you know about Teddy."

"I can't tell you."

"What the hell Chambers? Why not?!" I blurted out, frustrated.

He smirked, "I can't tell you… but I can show you."

"What are you playing at Eyeball?"

"Oh, you'll see." He smirked again and dragged me towards his car.

"This better be good Eyeball. I can charge you for attempted kidnapping, you know." I remarked while being dragged.

"Do you wanna know what's goin on with your friend or not?" He asked while shoving me into the passenger's seat.

"Ow, asshole." I said, remarking on the shove into the car.

"Never was the gentleman." He smirked and put the car into drive.

I just scoffed and folded my arms across my chest while he drove off, wondering where or what he was going to show me.


	21. Going Nowhere Fast

hey guys, this might be the last update for a while since I'm going on vacation. I'll try and update before I leave though.

Thanks for all the reviews!

* * *

We had been in the car for about 10 minutes now, and I had finally let off enough steam to start talking.

"Why do you always have that look on your face?"

"What are you talking about." He was looking at me like I was crazy. Who knows, maybe I was.

"I don't know, you just always have this look. It's a cross between a molester smile and a smirk. You kind of look like you know something no one else knows."

"Well, maybe I do." He did his molester smile/smirk. I thought of it as his trademark smirk.

"Would you mind sharing?" I asked, leaning in.

"Yeah, I do mind. Will you shut up now, I'm trying to think."

"Why do you always have to be so tough all the time? It's just me and you, it's just like you're trying to prove anything."

"Why do you have to ask so many questions?"

"Because I want answers."

"Well you're out of luck sweetie, I'm not the answer kind of type."

"That didn't make any sense. And you're annoying. And don't call me sweetie." I scoffed again and leaned towards the window.

He did the trademark smirk again and we both went back to silence.

--

15 minutes later.

"Where the hell are you taking me? We're in the middle of Boo Foo."

No answer.

"What, so you're not talking to me now?" I asked.

"Cool your jets, we're almost there."

I nodded and looked back out the window. All I saw was open fields that stretched out for miles. The fields just kept going, and going, and going…

--

"WE'RE HERE!" Eyeball screamed in my ear, a rude awakening.

I screamed from being startled, "Jesus Christ Eyeball! Could've had a fricken heart attack!"

He just laughed and pulled me out of the car.

I rubbed my eyes and stretched out my arms, trying to wake up. Then I noticed we really _were_ in the middle of boo foo.

"Where the hell are we?" I asked.

"This is where I followed Teddy to last night."

"He came _here_?"

The place pretty much came down to this: an open field dirtier than the Yard, and a little shed that looked like it hadn't been used since 1885.

"Yup. He drove all the way from Irby's right into this farming community. Me and Charlie were just about to grab him and beat the hell… I mean talk to him… about why he's been hanging around us lately, but then this other car was parked over there," He pointed to a spot behind the shed, "and Teddy got to the car before we got to him. It was weird though. Like Teddy didn't even look at the car or the guy in it, he just sort of went in. Me and Charlie didn't even get to see the guy he was with."

I thought about that for a minute, "So Teddy's out there, with a guy we don't even know, in the middle of boo foo. Eyeball, I'm sorry, but we are so screwed beyond belief! Well, mostly Teddy is screwed…"

I cooled off for a second, but then got fired up again. "I just need to find out what the hell is going on! Where's Teddy! It would make everything just that much easier if I just knew what was going on!" I stormed off, frustrated with myself. Teddy was in too deep, unreachable.

And I couldn't do anything about it.

--

"I hate to ask this but, are you okay?" Eyeball asked. I was sitting leaned against his car.

I looked up at him, "Thought I was the one who asked the questions."

"Yeah, whatever. You just seemed a little distant than your normal self."

I took a deep breath and blurted out, "It's because we're in the middle of a field with not a clue leading us to Teddy! For all we know he could be dead in a ditch somewhere! A ditch!" I tried calming down, "I'm losing it, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but I guess I'd be losing it too if I were in your position."

"Thanks. It's just, ugh… frustrating. And, as you can see, I don't deal well with frustration."

"Really, hadn't noticed."

"I don't need your sarcasm right now Eyeball."

"Touchy. How about we wait a little bit and see if anyone shows up. Maybe they'd know something about Teddy."

"Eyeball, not to be rude or anything but, who in their right mind would show up _here_."

"Teddy did."

"Yeah, but that's because Teddy's got some major problems to deal with."

"Teddy's not the only one with problems Ryan."

I thought about that, hoping he wasn't referring to me and the person with the problems.

"Yeah, alright we'll wait. Maybe there will be some hope after all." I said.

"Don't go gettin sappy on me with this hope shit."

"Why the hell would I get sappy on _you_?" I asked with some sour in my voice.

"That's more like it." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes and then kept my eyes peeled for any signs of life besides me and Eyeball.

It was going to be a long day.

--

I fell asleep again, and I woke up in the back of Eyeball's car, but we were in a different place than before.

I looked up and saw that we were hidden behind a huge over-grown bush. There was a rundown house in front of us and Eyeball was staring straight at it.

"Fuck." Eyeball said and sunk down in his seat, running a hand through his hair.

_Oh shit._

* * *

Side note: Do you guys like Eyeball and Ryan's bickering? Or is it annoying?


	22. Stories

hey guys, thanks for the feedback and thanks for the reviews. :)

* * *

"What? What is it?" This had to be bad if even Eyeball was nervous.

"Vipers… Oh ho, Ace is gonna get a load of this."

He pointed to about six guys walking into the rundown house.

"Wait a minute. How did we even get here?"

"I saw a car going down the road and I recognized it as the car Teddy got into last night. So I followed them here. This is bad news. They're even worse than we are."

"Who the hell are the Vipers? Wait, worse than you guys?"

"They're from Durham. And yeah, they're worse than us."

"How could they be worse than you guys?"

"Let's just say you'd be dead on the side of the road already if it were them instead of us who kidnapped you last summer."

"Oh."

I thought about that for a second, and Eyeball went back to watching them.

I moved into the passenger seat, "So we're screwed?"

"Yup."

I sighed, "Great."

"What could they want with Teddy anyways?" I asked.

"I don't know, but it's something big if the Vipers are this involved."

"Again, _great_." I said sarcastically.

We both went silent again. There was going to have to be a plan. A big plan. One that would bring us and the Cobras together. Who would've thought that we would actually need the help of the people we hated the most? I didn't care though. We were going to do whatever it took to get Teddy out of the hell hole he had fallen into.

--

One hour later.

"Eyeball. EYEBALL! Get off of me!" He had fallen asleep on top of me and I was shaking him repeatedly.

He started waking up slowly, "I feel like we've been here for days. What time is it anyways?" I asked.

"About eight pm." He yawned while looking at his watch.

I grabbed his watch to make sure it really was eight, and then shoved it back to him. "Oh shit! I told Chris and them that I'd meet um all at the lake later!" I sighed, "Well, I guess that plan's out the window…"

"Yeah, and our plans are gonna be out the window because none of them are working."

"Do you have a better plan Eyeball? We're just gonna have to wait here until we see Teddy again."

"_Why did I agree to this…_" He mumbled.

"Because you can't resist my charm." I smirked.

"Yeah, okay hunny."

"You know it's tr-"

I stopped mid-sentence because I finally saw a person walking out of the house.

"Eyeball look!" I hissed at him.

He got a good look at the person, "God fucking dammit. That's Pat Finnegan. Ryan, we're in way over our heads here. This guy's got a record bigger than mine and Ace's combined."

"Shit. Well we can't just sit here! Let's get in there and get Teddy."

"Did you not just hear what I said? This is Pat Finnegan we're talking about here Ryan, runner of the toughest gang around. There's no way you can get past him without getting killed first."

"You know, that's what people always told me about you and Ace, and look how that turned out. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a friend to save." I went to open up the door but Eyeball grabbed me first.

"Eyeball, let go of me."

"Sorry Ryan, can't do that."

"Do you wanna help Teddy or not?" I spat at him.

"Do you wanna get killed or not?" He spat back.

"What if Teddy's getting killed right now, ever think of that?"

"Not my problem."

"You're an asshole." I tried struggling with him again, but he pulled me right back into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, well I'm an asshole who's trying to convince you from not trying to kill yourself alright? You really don't know who you're dealing with. The Vipers are the worst you can get."

"Yeah, I get it Eyeball. Now let me go."

"I'm not letting you go, we're leaving. We'll come back tomorrow."

"No! Teddy's in there and we're this close to helping him, we can't leave now!"

"Yes we can. We'll come back with more people. If me and you went in there now, you, me _and _Teddy would all be killed. Alright?"

I stopped struggling and sighed, "Alright. But we are coming back. No way in hell are we leaving Teddy with the Vipers."

He nodded and we drove back home in silence.

I just hoped Teddy was alright.

--

That night I had a nightmare. It was one of those nightmares where you just keep running and there was no end. I just kept running towards Teddy… running and running and running… but there was no use. He just got farther and farther away, as did I.

I really hated nightmares.

--

"So you spent eight _hours _with that pig?" Trinity asked, referring to Eyeball.

We were all at the lake the next day, and I had already filled them in with every detail.

"Yeah. It wasn't that bad actually, he's still an annoying asshole though. But, he's an annoying asshole that wants to help us." I answered.

"Yeah. I just can't wait until we get the old Teddy back, then everything will go back to normal." Trinity said.

"Yeah, we can go back to hating the Cobras and they can go back to hating us." Vern added in.

"I don't know, it's a good feeling having the Cobras on our side for a change." I said.

"Yeah, but I'd still rather hate um." Gordie stated.

"Yeah me too."

"Same here."

"Definitely." They all added.

"Alright, alright. So are we gonna make a plan or not?" I asked.

"You know in order to have a plan with the Cobras we actually might have to well, talk to them… right?" Gordie remarked sarcastically.

"We're not idiots Lachance. It's just gonna be hard getting all of us and all of them to agree on some plan." Chris stated.

"How do we even know the Cobras are gonna help us anyhow?" Vern asked.

"Eyeball seemed pretty interested in the fact that the Vipers were this involved. So if Eyeball's interested then most of the gang will be interested." I told them, remembering what Eyeball said last night.

"_What could they want with Teddy anyways?" I asked._

"_I don't know, but it's something big if the Vipers are this involved…"_

"Yeah, you're right." Vern sighed and we all went silent.

"So… who's driving?" I smirked and we all ran off towards the car. We were all pretty excited to figure out a plan between us and the Cobras, even if we didn't show it.

--

As we pulled up to the Yard, none of us knew what to expect. All of us were whispering randomly to each other, mostly whispers about "I hope we don't get killed" or "This better work out."

"You guys ready?" Chris asked, he was up in the passenger's seat next to me.

We all hesitated, "Uh… yeah we're ready."

"Then let's do this."

Chris and I got out first and then let everyone out of the back of the truck.

"What if this doesn't work out?" I asked Chris while we walked up towards the Cobras.

"Don't always look on the negative side Ry, lighten up a bit." He smiled and then walked away. I sometimes wished that I had the courage Chris had.

"Hey girls, how's it goin?" Eyeball smirked while he asked Gordie, Vern, Paul, and Chris that.

"Eyeball, shut the hell up. We're not here to start anything." I remarked.

"You're a pretty touchy girl, you know that?" He asked.

"You're a pretty annoying guy, do _you_ know that?" I shot back.

"Touché."

I smirked. Eyeball and my bickering always seemed to amuse me; I think it amused him too.

"Are we gonna fucking do this or not? I don't got all day to spend with you wets." Ace said in the same menacing voice. The voice you always obeyed, whether you wanted to or not.

"Yeah, we're ready." Gordie said.

"Good. And don't think we're doing this for your little wet of a friend. We're doing this on personal terms. Personal terms with those god damn Vipers." Ace must have really had a strong grudge against these people.

"Can you tell us about these Vipers before we make a plan against them?" I cringed after I asked, not knowing if I should've asked or not.

Everyone looked at Ace for approval. Ace nodded at Billy, and then Billy started telling the story…


	23. Now's Our Chance

hey guys :) just got back from vacation so i'll be updating a lot now

thanks for all the reviews!

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"The point about the Vipers is they always go around thinkin they're better than us. Takin our chicks, ridin around like they own the place. We've gotten in a lot of fights with them before, and it's time for them to get a lesson they won't forget. Ya got it?" Billy finished.

"Uh, yeah. We got it." I said.

"Alright then. Let's fuckin do this thing." Eyeball said, annoyed it was taking this long.

We all went and sat down on these random picnic tables, and then we started making the plan. After about an hour of talking and figuring out things we could do, we finally came up with the ultimate plan.

"That plan sound good to everybody?" I asked.

"Hell yeah!" Paul shouted.

The Cobras all glared at Paul. He quickly pretended to be invisible.

"So we'll meet you guys here tomorrow night at six?" I asked.

"Yeah. And don't go chickening out either." Eyeball said.

"Same to you." I smirked and we all walked away. All thinking about what tomorrow was going to bring us.

--

"I don't know about this guys, I mean this is big here, and I don't want to die young and-"

We were at the usual meeting spot, the lake, the next morning.

"Em, everything's gonna be okay. There's 14 of us and only six of them. That sounds like pretty good odds to me, doesn't it?" Gordie asked while trying to calm Em down.

"Yeah, I guess. But what if the plan falls through? What if someone forgets to do their part of the plan? We'd all be screwed!" Em started going into hysterics.

"That's why we made sure everyone knew their part of the plan. Everything will be fine Em! There's nothing to worry about." Gordie was now hugging her.

"Alright. This better work." Em said, finally calmed down.

"It will, it will." Gordie reassured her.

"Now that that's over, who says we get some ice cream?" Paul asked, nudging Trinity.

"Shut up Paul. We still need to go through the steps of the plan." Trinity snapped at him.

"Trinity's right Paul, we still aren't completely ready." Chris said.

"Fine." Paul said, defeated.

We all went through the steps of the plan again, and again, and again… Until the point where I could recite the plan in my sleep.

"So who wants to go over the plan one more time?" Vern asked.

We all glared at him. Obviously everyone probably never even wanted to even hear the word 'plan' again.

"Sorry." Vern said sheepishly.

"Paul, I think it's time for that ice cream." I said.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." He said and we all got up to leave for our much deserved ice cream break.

--

"5:55. You guys ready to do this?" Gordie asked. We were all back from eating ice cream, preparing to go meet the Cobras for the plan.

"Don't think I've ever been more ready." I smiled, but I was still a bit nervous.

"Cool." Gordie smiled back, then all of us climbed into my car and drove to the Yard.

--

When we arrived at the Yard I saw Ace and Eyeball were the first ones waiting for us. Eyeball looked impatient and Ace looked annoyed.

"You guys are late." Eyeball said.

"Eyeball, it's 6:01. Take a chill." I think I was the only person in the world who could tell Eyeball to 'take a chill' without getting their ass kicked.

He glared at me, "Fine. Let's go. Ryan, you're coming with us."

"Hell no. I have my own car." I didn't want to go with them! What was the point?

"He _said, _you're coming with us." Ace said.

"What's the point? We're all going to the same place." I said, frustrated.

"I'm giving you five seconds to get in my car." Ace demanded.

_Gulp_. Guess I had no choice. "Chris here," I threw him my keys, "Take my car and everyone else."

"Alright Ry," he came closer to me, "_why are you doing this?_" He whispered in my ear.

I didn't answer and just gave him a pleading look to let me go with them. I didn't want to start any shit between us and the Cobras before the plan.

He understood. I got into Ace's car with Ace, Eyeball, Billy, and Charlie. The other Cobras went in a different car, and Chris and everyone else went into my car.

I was smashed in the middle between Billy and Charlie. They smelled bad.

"Why the hell am I with you guys anyways?" I asked while struggling to make some room for myself.

"Because you're entertaining." Eyeball smirked.

"And you guys are assholes." I scoffed. _Entertaining_?

"Yeah, we are." He smirked again and I scoffed again.

"Charlie, you smell like you haven't showered in weeks. What the hell's wrong with you."

"Sorry you don't like my natural stench sweetie." He smirked, I was beginning to feel nauseated.

I plugged my nose, "What's with you guys and calling me sweetie? It's fucking annoying."

"What do you want us to call you, poopy?" Charlie asked.

I tried not to laugh, "No, how about my real name, it's Ryan, if you wanted to know." I said sarcastically with sour in my voice.

"We've got a smart ass here." Charlie said to the guys.

"Told you she's entertaining." Eyeball smirked and I scoffed, yet again.

"I think she's fucking annoying." Ace said, always the badass.

"Ace, why do you always have to be such a fucking badass all the time?" I asked, knowing I shouldn't have said what I did, but I was just really frustrated with him.

Charlie, Eyeball, and Billy all turned to me, shocked, and gave me a "what are you thinking" look. I ignored them and waited for Ace's response.

He slammed on the brakes, "Because, _Ryan,_ that's how I am, okay? And if you don't like how I am, then get the fuck out of my car."

"Gladly." I was happy to get out of there.

"No, wait. We can't, we need her for the plan." Eyeball added in, still looking a bit shocked.

"She can walk there."

"It's 10 miles."

"Fine. You better watch your fucking mouth then." Ace said to me.

"What if I don't want to?" I was still frustrated.

He stopped, and then smirked and turned to me.

"Then you better watch out for what's in your future after this Viper business." He said with an evil glint in his eye.

I didn't speak for the rest of the car ride. That look on Ace's face would make the devil himself afraid to cross a kid like Ace.

--

Once again, I had fallen asleep. I woke up when I felt that I was being picked up and carried.

I opened my eyes to see Eyeball carrying me, "Eyeball, I can walk."

"Okay." He said and then dropped me.

"Thanks, asshole." I got up from the ground and scraped off the dirt. He just smirked and walked towards Ace.

We were about 100 feet away from the dilapidated house. We were far enough away from the house to be able to talk and negotiate the plan without the Vipers seeing or hearing us.

"Chris! Thank god you're here! Being in that car was a living hell." I said while running up to him.

"Cut the drama Ry." Eyeball said.

"What, now we're friends?" I asked, referring to him calling me 'Ry' instead of Ryan.

"We weren't friends?" He asked jokingly.

"Funny." I said sarcastically.

"Anyways _Chris_, how was your guy's car ride?"

"Pretty good, except Vern farted and it stunk up the car."

"_Vern_! You just had to stink up my car…" I shook my head.

"Sorry Ry. It was a long ride! I couldn't hold it…" Vern said, ashamed.

"Vern, I don't wanna know." I laughed.

"Now that that's done, are we gonna do this?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, let's get this over with. Panthers on three?" I asked.

We counted down, "PANTHERS!"

"What the fuck was that." Ace said dryly, not needing an answer.

"Just our way of getting ready for what's coming next. Let's do this." Gordie said.

"Finally. Ryan, get in there." Ace said.

It was time for the plan; I just hoped to god I wouldn't screw it up…


	24. Old Things Aren't Always Forgotten

hey guys, thanks for the reviews!

* * *

The first part of the plan (Plan A) was for me to go in by myself, acting like I just randomly got lost and ended up in the dilapidated house. If the Vipers weren't there, then I would snoop around and get all the info I could. If they were there, then I'd use my flirting skills to distract them, mostly Pat Finnegan, and then I would give the signal for the Cobras and Chris and them to come in. I know, sounds like a pretty weak plan, but we knew what we were doing.

I hoped.

While I was walking up to the house so many feelings were rushing through me. I felt like I had not only butterflies in my stomach, but huge birds. I felt like I couldn't talk, couldn't think. I was losing it because I was so nervous. The whole plan pretty much relied on me, and we were all screwed if I messed something up.

I hoped they were ready for Plan B.

I walked up the steps to the house and I felt like a wreck. My legs felt like jello, my stomach was flipping, and I felt like I was screwed beyond belief.

_Please let this end well._

I cracked open the door and heard voices coming from the inside.

_I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this…_

_You can do this. You have to do this._

The things I did for Teddy.

"Hel- Hel- Hello?" My voice was already shaking, I quickly snapped out of it.

"Who's there?" A voice asked from what seemed to be coming from a kitchen.

"Um, I'm lost. Can you help me?" I asked while walking into the kitchen.

There were about seven guys scattered across the living room and kitchen, all staring at me with wide eyes. I didn't like the way they looked at me.

"And who the hell are you?" A guy asked with a thick southern accent. He looked to be about 19. He had brown-greaser hair and was medium build with bright blue eyes. He also was staring at me like I was something to eat.

"My name's Mary, Mary Williams."

_Mary Williams? Oh Jesus..._

"Well my name's Pat, Pat Finnegan. This is my gang, the Vipers."

I looked up and smiled the fakest smile I could pull off at the rest of the Vipers.

"That's a cool name."

"Yeah, made it up myself. So what brings a little thing like you to a place like this?"

"Uh, well… I was, uh, lost. Yeah, that's right, lost."

_So screwed. Screwed, screwed, screwed._

"Really? Well, we can help you get un-lost, if you'd like us too…"

_Un-lost? _

"Oh really? That'd be so great." I pulled off another fake smile.

"Good. Now I'll start by taking you on a tour…"

"A tour? Tour to where?"

"Well we can start in the bedroom, if you'd like…" He grabbed me and smirked.

"Uh, we don't have to do that."

"Hunny, yes we do." He smirked and held on to me tighter.

I was panicking on the inside. In complete and total panic.

_Where the hell are the Cobras and Chris and them? They should be here by now!_

I kept struggling with Pat while he pulled me towards the stairs, but then I heard a voice behind me.

"Mary Williams? Impressive. I always did like the name Ryan better though."

I was extremely confused while I turned around. Who knew my name besides the Cobras or Chris and them?

But then I got a look at the guy.

_Fuck._


	25. The Past Is Back

101 reviews! You guys are amazing... thanks so much for all the reviews and I hope you all continue to like the story :)

Oh and good guess for all of you who thought it was Teddy at the end of the last chapter... hope I didn't disappoint.

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"Ryan Sarah Murphy. Haven't seen you since San Diego, and from what I remember, we didn't leave on the greatest of terms." He smirked. The way he looked at me was even worse than the way the rest of the Vipers looked at me. He really looked like he wanted to hurt and/or kill me.

I didn't speak. I was shocked.

"_Maybe I should jog your memory…_" He whispered into my ear.

"Wait a minute. You two know each other?" Dumbo, AKA Pat asked.

I didn't know how Pat could be the leader of the Vipers. He was dumber than a box of rocks.

"Oh, me and Boo here?" I cringed when he said Boo, "Yeah, we know each other." He smirked at my reaction to the nickname reference. Him calling me Boo just really hit home.

"Don't call me that." I said, barely audible.

"Why Boo? You don't miss when I used to call you that?" He laughed an evil laugh and I wanted to barf.

I thought of my chances of any escape, which were slim to none. By now all of the Vipers had circled around us and I was pretty much cornered.

Everything registered to me now. I was stuck with the ghost of my past. I was stuck with my ex-boyfriend from hell.

I was stuck with Matt Nolan.

Matt and I went way back. He was medium build with blonde hair and big green eyes, and I guessed he was about 6' 0" now.

We were actually best friends growing up, he lived across the street. He was in the grade ahead of me so we never had classes together, but we were still always together no matter what. That was how life was for the first 14 years of our lives, but then the switch flipped.

My family started falling apart and I always needed a shoulder to cry on. Matt became that shoulder to cry on. Then we became more and more connected and we started going out with each other. The first five months of the relationship was great, some of the best times of my life, but then the switch flipped again.

When I turned fifteen Matt thought it was time to move ahead, to stop acting like we were kids. He would try and force me to do things I didn't want to do, so I would just cry and cry until he would leave me alone. Then one day he went too far.

I was walking home from school one day and I tried to walk a bit faster so Matt wouldn't be able to catch up with me. When I thought I was far enough ahead of him I started walking slower and then I made it safely into my house. My mom and Tim weren't home that day. So, I did what I did every time I 

came home from school, ate an apple and watched whatever was on TV. Then after an hour I would go upstairs to my room and start on my homework.

So that day I went into my room and found Matt waiting for me in there. That's where it all went downhill.

**Flashback**

"Matt, what the hell are you doing here? I told you I don't want to see you anymore!"

"I don't want things to end like this Ry."

"To end like what? To end like you being a total psychopath?!"

"No sweetie, I just want things to go back to normal."

"What is normal, _Matt?_ Hmm? And don't call me sweetie."

"This attitude isn't going to solve anything, now is it?" He said with an evil glint in his eyes while walking towards me.

"Don't try anything stupid now. I don't want any trouble…" I said while backing up.

"Don't want any trouble? Now why would I want to give the love of my life any trouble?" He walked closer towards me.

I became disgusted at this point.

"Matt! Just leave, please! Just leave and don't come back! Our relationship wouldn't work anyways! I'm moving away! Far away!"

"You're _what_?" He asked, confused/mad.

"I'm moving. Far away from this town. Where you and no one else can't find me. Okay?"

Now he was furious. He started coming at me with a wild look in his eyes.

I went with my gut reaction.

"HELP! PLEASE HELP ME! MATT NOL-"

**Present Time**

He had clamped his hand over my mouth and pushed my head so hard against the wall I thought I might've had a concussion. I snapped out of it and then kicked him so hard in the shin that I thought it might've broken.

While he was down on the ground crying in pain, I ran outside and just started screaming like a crazy person for help. Suddenly all the neighbors were out running towards me asking what was going 

on. I told them everything and they all helped get my head bandaged up. Some of the neighbors went back to my house to find Matt, but he had disappeared. That was the last time I had seen him.

Until now.

Looking back on life I realized I didn't have the greatest luck with guys. This past year I had been practically kidnapped twice, ended up with a broken wrist, and a big shiner. I then became relieved I had found Chris.

After my day dreaming about the past I noticed I was still in a room with the evil of my past.

"So Boo, what are our plans for today?"

"_Matthew_. I will never _ever_ have plans with you. Ever."

"I'm a changed man Ry. I can show you that."

"Yeah right. You're ahead of the toughest gang in town and you're saying you're a 'changed man'? I don't think so."

"How do you know about my gang anyhow? Oh yeah, that's right. You hang out with those Cobras up in ah, what's it called? Oh yeah, Castle Rock. You shouldn't be hanging out with them doll, we're the gang you're looking for."

"Actually Matt, I'm not looking for any gang. I have a boyfriend now who is better to me than you ever were."

"Better to you than me? Well you should introduce me Ryan; I'm always up for a challenge."

"There would be no challenge because you would never be better than him in a million years. And wait, how do you even know about me and the Cobras anyways?"

"Oh, I've heard about you Ryan. I was actually going to visit you soon, you know, to say hello. But this is so much better." He grinned, looking me up and down.

I glared at him, "Let's not beat around the bush here. Are you gonna let me go, or not?"

"Well…no." He smirked and then walked back towards the kitchen.

I had forgotten how much I really hated him.

**Chris's POV**

_"Well…no." _

"We gotta get the hell in there! They now have Teddy _and _Ryan." I said.

"No shit Sherlock. I'm thinkin here." Ace remarked.

"Think faster Ace because if we don't get in there now then there'll be no chance of ever getting Ryan back." Eyeball said.

We all looked at him. It was weird that Eyeball would mention Ryan, let alone mention 'getting her back' in front of Ace. We all knew that Eyeball had a soft spot for Ry, but Ace and the rest of the Cobras didn't know. It bugged the hell out of me that Eyeball would ever even think about Ryan after what he did to her.

"I know what we're gonna do." Ace said after about five minutes of thinking.

"Alright then, tell us." I said, anxious.

"So, you little wets are gonna…" Ace started.


	26. Trouble

hey guys, thanks for all the reviews and I hope you guys are still liking the story. :)**

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**

**Ryan's POV**

While we walked into the kitchen I started coming up with escape routes. I studied what I had seen of the house and I made sure I remembered where every door and window was. I was still wondering what was taking Chris and them so long…

When most of the Vipers went back to watching TV I thought of that as the perfect time to make a run for it. I had already come up with the perfect plan in my mind…

There were several fairly heavy plates on the kitchen table, so I grabbed two while Matt looked away for a second. I put one behind me and I held the other one out, pretending I was looking at it.

I dropped the plate I was looking at, shattering it. Everyone looked over and while they were distracted, I made a run for it.

One of the Vipers caught up with me so I used the other plate to hit him over the head with. He was dumbfounded and staggered back, so I kept running for the door. I would've made it too, if I wasn't so stupid.

I went to the wrong door. The door I thought was the door to exit from actually turned out to be a closet. Three of the Vipers had grabbed me by now and were pulling me towards the kitchen, so I just screamed and screamed.

**Chris's POV**

"I'm going in there."

I had just heard Ryan screaming her head off and I was about ready to kill whoever was messing with her.

"Chambers, you better sit your ass down." Ace scolded at me.

"She's in fucking trouble Ace! I'm not gonna sit here and let some Vipers do whatever they want to her!"

"We know, but it's not time yet. We gotta give it some time. We gotta wait till everything's controlled again." Gordie said, trying to comfort me.

"Ace I swear to god if anything happens to her you will be sorry."

I couldn't believe that I just threatened Ace, but I had to do something.

He turned to me, "I'll let that slide Chambers." Then he turned back to the house.

The whole plan had pretty much fallen apart. We never expected that Ryan would end up knowing one of the Vipers. Let alone the leader of the Vipers. The original plan was to have her be the 

bait, and then we would all move in on them. But now we had to be more careful. Now there was no way we could get in there without Ryan getting hurt.

**Ryan's POV**

"No one's gonna hear you Ry. Don't even bother…" Matt said menacingly while shoving me into a chair. If only he knew there was a whole gang outside…

"That was a pretty clever plan Ry, too bad the only exit is right there." He pointed to the door right next to the TV that all the Vipers were watching.

"Why are you even keeping me here anyways?" I asked sourly.

"I don't know, it's turning out to be kind of fun with you here.."

"You're a psychopath with serious relationship issues."

"And you're a girl that's going to be very sorry after what we've done to you if you don't shut up."

It was weird how I had become used to threats like these, how they didn't really scare me anymore.

"You're sick." I tried to get up again but about six hands grabbed me at once.

He leaned down to me and then smirked, "Don't even try."

I wanted to spit in his face, but remembering from past experiences, I decided that wasn't the greatest idea.

I kept on thinking why the Cobras and Chris and them hadn't come to save me yet. Seriously, this was getting ridiculous. Then I realized that they probably had heard me screaming, and they were probably waiting for everything to calm down again. So I started to calm down, and I started asking questions.

"So what are you even doing in Durham?" I asked Matt.

"My aunt lives up here. I'm living with her."

"I feel bad for your aunt. It must really suck having to reside with a scumball."

"I forgot how much I loved your sarcasm." He smirked.

"I forgot how much I hated you." I smirked back.

"So why are you really here, _Mary Williams_?" He leaned down to me, about two inches away from my face.

"What makes you think I'd tell you?"

"This." He leaned in and tried to kiss me, but I quickly snapped my head out of the way.

He looked at me, disappointed. "Maybe later then."

It took all of the will power in my body to not just punch him in the face right there. But, I knew I couldn't, I had a plan to fulfill and I wasn't going to ruin it now.

--

The next ten minutes I sat there thinking about my options of having any type of plan. The main focus of the plan was to get a look around the house to see if Teddy was anywhere in sight.

I went over hundreds of plans in my head, and then it came to me.


	27. Take A Look At My Life

hey guys! sorry I haven't updated in so long... it's been a pretty busy summer. I'm getting towards the end of this story, and I hope you guys are still reading it.

btw thanks for the amazing reviews!

* * *

"Can I go to the bathroom?" I asked.

"No." Matt said sternly.

"I have my period."

"I don't care."

"Good, then I hope I bleed all over your carpet."

"Dude, just let her go to the bathroom. I'm not cleaning that shit up…" One of the Vipers said.

"Fine, Jonny, go with her."

"I think I can go by myself Matt, I'm not five."

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to let you go wandering around by yourself? I know you too well, _Boo_."

I just glared at him and stalked off to find a bathroom.

Jonny grabbed my elbow and I quickly snapped it away from him. No way was I letting him touch me.

I looked down the halls and into the rooms on the first floor. Luckily the house was pretty small, so there were fewer places to look.

I started walking up the stairs when Jonny interrupted me.

"Uh… the bathroom's this way." He pointed to a hall on the first floor.

"I want to use the upstairs bathroom."

"That bathroom doesn't work."

"I don't care."

I didn't say anything more and just walked upstairs.

All the doors in the upstairs were opened except one. One that I had a feeling Teddy might've been in.

I walked to the closed door when Jonny forcefully grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me." I said sternly.

"You can't go in there." He said sternly back.

"Why? I'm feeling a little nauseous and this is the closest room to puke in. Unless you have any other suggestions, I'm going to throw up in this room."

I was just making shit up now, trying anything to get into that room.

I was about to grab the handle when I heard what sounded like a riot had just broke loose. Then I realized…

**Chris's POV**

We had broken in. It was time to get Ryan and possibly Teddy, if he was even there, out of that hell hole.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't the ah, what are y'all called? Garden snakes? Anyways, It's good to see y'all again."

"Didn't come here to talk, Pat." Ace said trough gritted teeth, mad at the fact Pat called them garden snakes.

"Good, I never really was the talkin type anyways. Y'all come to try to beat us again?"

Ace didn't say anything, and just popped Pat right in the face. Then all hell broke loose.

Vern, Gordie, Paul, and I were fighting off a couple of Vipers while the Cobras took care of the rest. We told Trinity and Emily to go find Ryan and Teddy while we tried to fight off the Vipers. So far it looked like we were winning, but it was close. I was just glad that no one had gotten a knife out by now.

**Ryan's POV**

Jonny quickly realized what was happening, so he grabbed me in an iron grip and ran me downstairs.

As I was struggling with Jonny, I realized a new person had grabbed me.

Matt.

"Matt, don't fucking touch me! LET ME GO!!"

He didn't answer and just dragged me outside to the garage.

He was heading straight for his car, and I really was hoping someone would get me out of there.

"This is gonna be just like old times Ryan, you and me…"

"There never was a 'you and me'. _You_ only wanted that!"

I tried struggling again, "HELP ME!! PLEASE SOMEBODY! CHRIS, GORDIE, VERN, EYEBALL, ACE! ANYBODY!!"

Matt just shoved me into his car and quickly locked the doors, then he put the keys in the ignition.

I tried one last time, "HELP!!"

_This is hopeless._

But then I realized Matt couldn't start the car.

"Looking for these?" I heard a voice say from outside.

_What the…?_


	28. I'm A Lot Like You

hey guys! thanks so much for the reviews and I'll try and update as fast as I can.

* * *

I realized the voice was Eyeball's, and he was holding wires in his hands which probably were the wires that would start the car.

"God dammit!" Matt yelled out.

Eyeball went up to the window, which was opened, on Matt's side and smirked at Matt, then punched him in the face, knocking him out.

I was ecstatic and went to unlock the car doors. When I got out of the car I ran up to Eyeball and gave him the biggest hug, even if I did hate him.

"Eyeball! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!" I screamed while hugging him.

"Yeah, whatever. Let go of me."

"Oh, shut up. I owe you one." I smiled at him, still ecstatic.

"No, it's okay. I owed you one anyways."

"Aw, thanks Eyeball! But wait…How did you know Matt took me to his car?"

"A part of Ace's plan was for me to cut the wires of Matt and Pat's cars, so I guess it was just luck that I was there."

"Well I'm glad you were there! Thanks for everything." I smiled.

I didn't care that I was so happy about Eyeball, he saved me from something that could've ended, well…you know how it could've ended.

Eyeball and I walked back towards the house, "How's everything going in there?" I asked him.

"We pretty much won. But, Ace and Pat are going at it with knifes now. I'm not that worried about it though, Ace has always been good with knifes."

"KNIFES?! Eyeball, you know Ace could get killed!" I couldn't believe I was just worried for _Ace's_ life.

"What do you care anyways? You hate Ace."

"Yeah, I know. It still doesn't mean I want him to get murdered. We gotta stop this."

"It'll end soon. But now, we gotta find Teddy."

I had almost forgotten about Teddy and the room with the closed door.

"Yeah, and I think I know where he might be." I told him.

"Let's get him then and get out of here."

--

We got in the house and I grabbed Chris to come upstairs with me and Eyeball.

"What if he's not in here? What if we did all this for nothing? What if…"

"What if, what if, what if. Come on Ry, don't be such a downer." Chris said to me, probably trying to get my hopes up.

"Yeah, you're right. Well, here we are." We were at the closed door, and I opened the door swiftly, hoping to god Teddy was there.

And he was. Teddy Duchamp, one of my best friends, was now saved. And I couldn't be any more happy for him.

"TEDDY!!" I screamed and almost hugged him a little too hard.

"Teddy! We missed you man, we're came to get you outta here." Chris said, also really excited we had Teddy back.

But then we got a look at him. Teddy wasn't hugging us back, he wasn't thanking us for saving him, he was more broken than ever before.

"Teddy, what did they do to you?" I asked, shocked at his appearance. Even Eyeball looked shocked.

He didn't answer. I realized he probably wasn't going to talk for a while, or at least until he was ready to talk.

"Chris, let's just get him back to the car."

Eyeball and Chris went over to Teddy and picked him up. He didn't even protest when they picked him up. He didn't even flinch.

--

We got out to the car and Ace was just coming back from his fight. Ace had won because he somehow got Pat knocked out, and then beat out of there.

Gordie, Em, Trinity, Paul, and Vern were okay too. The rest of the Cobras seemed to be fine, just a couple of cuts here and there, but all of us could agree that we were incredibly worn out.

When Gordie and them saw Teddy, they were all as shocked as me, Chris, and Eyeball had been. We all agreed that we would give Teddy time to heal before we would ask him about any of this.

Ace told us that we didn't have to worry about the Vipers anymore. He said if the Vipers even stepped one foot into Castle Rock then he would know about it, and there would be trouble.

I worried for a moment about Matt, and if he would ever find me again. In the back of my head I knew it wasn't the last I'd seen of him. So, I was just going to have to wait and see, but for now everything seemed to be a little bit safer.

--

A month had passed by with no news from Teddy. He hadn't been at school, I had heard he was getting home schooled now. We tried calling and going to his house a couple of times, but he was never home. So we just waited. We waited until he came to us.

Also, school was almost ending, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. It was May now. I hadn't heard from Matt or any of the Vipers, and I actually hung out with Eyeball once or twice. Weird, I know. Chris was furious even when I mentioned his brother's name, but Eyeball was always entertaining to be around, even if he was a jackass.

Then one day I got a call, a call I never thought I would get, at least not this soon anyways.

_Ring, ring._

"Hello?" I asked while answering the telephone.

"Ry?" I heard on the receiver.

"Teddy? Is that you?" I asked, excited.

"Yeah, it's me. Can I talk to you?"

"Yes! I mean uh, yeah, sure, of course."

"Good. Meet me at the lake."

_Click._

He had hung up before I could say goodbye, but I didn't even think about that because I was so excited. I was finally going to find out what happened to Teddy!


	29. My Happiness Is Slowly Creeping Up

hey guys, here is one incredibly long chapter... hope you enjoy.

btw, thanks for the reviews!

* * *

"MOM! I'm going to the lake! I'll be back soon!" I yelled upstairs to my mom, who was working on her next sewing project.

"Alright Boo, love you!"

"Love ya mom, bye!"

--

I got to the lake in record timing. 1 minute and 48 seconds to be exact.

I went to go sit on the pier and saw Teddy walking towards me. I smiled because he looked, well... healthy. Really healthy.

"Teddy!" I yelled and went to give him a hug.

"Ha, geez Ry. Didn't know you wanted me that badly."

"Oh Teddy! You have no idea how much I've missed your wit!"

I let go of him and looked him straight in the eye, "Don't ever do that to me again!" I said, referring to him going completely depressed.

"Yeah, I won't. Never again."

"Good. Well… Are you ready to talk about it?" I asked, hoping he was.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. So what was the deal with the Vipers?"

"Well, I was walking home after the mud fight and I heard a lot of noise coming from a place that was usually deserted, so I went to go check it out. It was coming from the alley a couple blocks down from my house, and I saw that there were about six guys tormenting and yelling at this one girl…"

He stopped and looked at me because I was cringing at the thought of one girl getting ganged up on by six guys. It all sounded very familiar…

"Anyways, I wanted to go help the girl, but then I realized I probably couldn't take all of them, but I tried to help anyways. I was about to run off to call the cops when…"

He stopped on what he was about to say, and looked down at the ground. Then he looked back and started again.

"And well, they got her. They had tormented her, and killed her. Right there, they killed her. And who was the one eye witness? Me. I was shocked. I couldn't even move my feet. Then, they saw me. I snapped out of it and went off running, but they got me. First they beat the shit out of me and then threatened that they would kill me too if I ever told. I was so scared and shook up that I just went home and couldn't even sleep. That's when I became depressed. It just went all downhill from there, and there was no going back. They would force me to come to Irby's, and they would beat me up and threaten me more and more each time. Then it got worse…"

"What, what got worse?" I asked, totally into the story now.

"One day I came home and the leaders of the Vipers, Matt Nolan and Pat Finnegan, we're in my room. They both grabbed me and I tried to kick the shit out of them, but I was too weak by that point. They brought me out into their car saying all this shit like "you told" or "I heard you talking about the girl." So, they brought me to the house you found me in. They locked me in that room for two days straight, and that's when I totally lost it. I didn't even know if I could speak anymore. They would just repeatedly beat me up and threaten me, then beat me up again. I swear to god if I ever see Matt or Pat again I'll kill them. And I wouldn't think twice about it. After I was about to just give up and let them kill me, you, Chris, and Eyeball come running through the door. And now here we are. I've been going through a lot of therapy. My mom took it the hardest I think, with me being all depressed and stuff. So she got me help, and I'm better now."

"Wow. I'm so sorry about everything Teddy, we should've saved you sooner. And I'm really glad you're better now." I hugged him and he hugged me back. Then we sat in silence for a moment.

"How'd you even find me anyways?" He asked.

"Long story. _Very _long story."

"Well, we've got nothing better to do."

"Alright, I warned you though. So back when you were…"

I told him everything. I told him everything from that night at Irby's all the way up to my ex-boyfriend from hell and our past together.

"And that's pretty much it." I ended.

"You went out with Matt Nolan?" He asked, still shocked.

"Yeah, I told you. We were best friends, but then he turned into a stalker psychopath." I laughed a nervous laugh, thinking about the day Matt broke into my room, the last day I had seen him before he disappeared.

"Well that's one hell of a story Ry."

"So is yours." I smiled, he smiled back and we both just laid back on the pier, relaxing for a while. We were both in good need of some well deserved relaxation.

The next morning I realized Teddy and I had fallen asleep on the pier, and we slept through the whole night.

"Teddy, Teddy! Wake up! We must've dozed off or something." I said while shaking him lightly.

"Huh? Is that you Ry? What's going on?" He was still in a daze from waking up.

"Me and you both fell asleep and it is now… noon! Oh shit, my mom's gonna kill me." I frantically scrambled to get up.

"Calm down Ry, let's go get some lunch or something. I'm starving." Teddy said, finally getting up.

"Well, I guess I can since I'm already out anyways. I'll tell my mom everything later. So, Blue Point Diner?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Boss. I'll call Chris and them when we get there."

"Alright, let's go then."

We both got in my car and talked the whole way to the Blue Point Diner. I was glad to have the old Teddy back.

--

Al let us use the restaurant's phone to call Chris, Gordie, and Vern. They all showed up in record timing after I told them Teddy was with me.

"Hey guys!" I said to Chris, Gordie, and Vern as they all walked in.

"Hey Ry, Teddy. You feeling better Teddy?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I'm better. Better because I slept with Ry last night." He laughed that eehheehee hyena laugh of his.

"Funny Teddy." I didn't even care about his nasty remark about me; I just liked hearing his annoying laugh again.

"I think you guys would make a great couple." Gordie joked.

"You guys are just full of them today, aren't you?" I said sarcastically, referring to all the jokes about me and Teddy being made already.

"Yeah, stock full." Chris laughed.

It was just like old times. Back before Trinity, Paul, Em, or any serious Cobra/Viper drama. Back when we all just hung out and had a good time all the time.

"You know where we should go?" Vern asked.

"Vern, none of us wanna hear any of your crazy ideas." Teddy said bluntly to Verno.

"No, I swear. This one's a good one."

"Alright then, let's hear it." Gordie said, shaking his head.

"Let's go to the lake, you know, like old times."

We all sat there, thinking about it.

"You know, that's not a bad idea." I said.

"Yeah, it sounds like fun actually." Gordie said.

"Good idea Verno." Chris said while nudging him.

Vern got all red, happy people agreed with him for a change.

"Let's not wet our pants over this guys." Teddy said.

"Aw, shut up Teddy. Don't be such a downer." I laughed; lately I had been the downer.

"Yeah Ted." Chris said, agreeing with me, "So we'll meet at the lake in an hour?" Chris asked everyone.

"Sounds good to me."

"Yeah same here."

"Good, see you guys later."

"Bye."

We all left and I was really glad everything was finally piecing back together again.

--

"Shit." I mumbled to myself.

I had ransacked my room for a bathing suit, but I couldn't find one. I had probably accidentally thrown it out with my old clothes.

_Now what do I do. _

I knew the guys wouldn't like my no-bathing suit apparel, but I had no choice. I would just sit out this time, there would be plenty of other times to go to the lake.

Then I thought about that, and I knew the guys wouldn't let me just 'sit out'. Whatever, they were just gonna have to deal with it.

--

"Hey Ry, has anyone ever told you that you wear a bathing suit while swimming?" Teddy asked sarcastically.

"Yes, Theodore. I just lost mine."

"Likely excuse."

"I swear." I said while crossing my heart.

"Yeah, whatever." He said and then jumped into the lake.

I went to go sit under my favorite tree at the lake, and I ended up dozing off under it while the guys swam.

--

"_Okay, you guys grab her legs, and we'll grab her arms…_" I heard this while I was waking up, then I realized what they were about to do.

"NO WAY! LET ME GO, YOU BAFFOONS!" I yelled, but they just picked me up and started carrying me towards the water.

"I SWEAR IF YOU GUYS RUIN MY SHIRT I WILL PERSONALLY PUNCH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IN AN AREA YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE MESSED WITH!!"

"We'd like to see that Ry." Chris laughed and they all laughed while still carrying me.

"I'll make you guys cookies! I swear, I'll do anything! I just really don't wanna ruin this shirt!" I yelled again.

They stopped, "Anything?" Chris asked.

"Yeah! Anything!" I yelled, I really was in no mood to get thrown in the lake.

"Well, let's think about that…" Teddy started, and they all looked at each other and then turned back to me, "NO." They all said in unison and started carrying me again.

"I really hate you guys. Good thing I don't really hate you or I'd… I'd… Well I don't know what I'd do, but I'd do something!"

"Oh, stop whining Ry. We're just having a little fun." Gordie laughed.

We were at the end of the pier and they started their countdown, "THREE, TWO, ONE!!"

_Splash._

I came up to the surface and all the guys were next to me, "Why me God, why did you stick me with these people? Why?"

"Ryan, always the dramatic one." Gordie laughed.

"Yeah, whatever Lachance. I'll get you guys back, you better watch out."

"Can't wait to see what you've got up your sleeve this time Ry." Chris laughed, probably thinking about when I stole his boxers.

"You'll see. But for now…" I smirked, moving closer to all of them, Chris in particular.

"What?" Chris asked.

I went up to him, pretending like I was about to kiss him, but then smacked seaweed on his face.

"…I just wanted to give you that." I laughed.

"Oh, that's it Murphy. You just signed you own death warrant, you die, Murphy!" Chris yelled and I tried to swim as fast as I could away from him, but he caught up.

"You know I was just kidding Chris! Just a little harmless fun! That's all!" I pleaded while he grabbed me.

"I guess I'll let it slide this time." He smirked and kissed me.

"GET A ROOM!" I heard Gordie, Vern, and Teddy yelling.

We didn't say anything and Chris kissed me again, and then we went back to the rest of the guys.

"You guys are nasty. There should be a rule against PDA." Teddy said.

"And this is coming from the kid that practically had sex in the middle of a movie theatre?" I asked.

"Oh yeah." He smirked and laughed his hyena laugh.

"Are you guys getting cold?" Vern asked.

"Yeah, are you guys?" I asked.

"Yeah, you guys wanna go eat someplace?" Gordie asked.

"Yeah, I say we go to Irby's." I said, acting completely serious. They all just stared at me.

I laughed, "Kidding! We can all just go to Blue Point again." I said.

"Sounds good to us." They all said, sounding relieved that I was joking.

"Cool. Let's get out of here then." I said.

We all got out of the water, but I didn't have my car. So we walked up to the Blue Point Diner, talking and laughing about old times the whole way.

--

It was our last week at school, and all of us were pumped for another summer.

"3 more days guys!" I shrieked at the lunch table. I always got super excited at the end of the year for summer.

"Hell yeah. Next year we're gonna be juniors. It's weird." Chris said.

"Yeah, that is weird. We're almost out of high school already." Gordie said.

"We've still got two more years to go guys." I said.

"Yeah, but it's gonna go by fast. It's already gone by fast." Trinity said.

"Yeah, well I'm enjoying this while it lasts." Teddy said.

"Me too."

"Totally."

"Definitely."

We all went back to eating our lunches, and then Teddy spoke up.

"Have any of you guys heard anything about the Vipers being around here?"

"I haven't heard Eyeball saying anything about it." Chris said.

"Yeah, I haven't heard Billy say anything either." Vern added in.

"Okay. I'm just making sure, you know? If they come back, I don't know what I'd do."

"Teddy, for now, let's not worry about those jackasses. If they come back they better be prepared for what we have in store for them. No way are we letting them even anywhere near you." I said to him, hoping he'd feel safer.

"Okay, good."

And that's the last we said on that subject.

* * *

hope you guys liked it, and btw, there's only three chapters left of the story to go...


	30. Just As Long As You Stand By Me

hey guys, sorry for not updating in so long. It's been a tough year in school and stuff...and I'm sad to say this is the last chapter. But, I think I might write an epilogue.

Thanks so much for all my reviewers that have been reviewing since No Rain, you guys are awesome. :)

* * *

"SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER, SCHOOLS OUT FOREVER!!" Teddy was running down the halls singing that on the last day of school. (A/N: Okay, I know that song wasn't out in the 60s, but I wanted to use it anyways. :) )

"Only Teddy." Chris said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, but I'm glad. I never wanna see him depressed again." I said.

"You can say that again." Gordie added in.

We all decided to go and grab Teddy so we could go hang out at the lake.

"TEDDY!! WAIT FOR US!" We were screaming at him while he was still running down the halls singing.

"Jesus Teddy! Where did you learn to run that fast?" I asked, out of breath.

"Running from the Cobras has helped a bit." He laughed.

"Definitely." I laughed back.

"Hey Ted, you coming to the lake with us?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, sure. Who's going?"

"Me, you, Gordie, Vern, and Ry." He answered.

"Cool, I'll be there in an hour."

"Boss, see you there."

"Bye guys." Teddy left and started singing again.

"So Chris, wanna walk me home?" I asked.

"If I have to…"

"Oh, shut up." I laughed.

Chris walked me back to my house, and we were greeted by a very excited Timmy.

"Hey Tim, what's up?"

"Aw Ry you won't believe it!"

"What, you got a girlfriend?" I asked jokingly.

His face lit up, "YEAH!"

"Haha, aren't you a little young Tim?" Chris asked.

"No way. I'm 10 now." Tim said, acting all proud and mighty.

"Yeah, 10 is getting pretty old Tim. Better watch out for what 11 might do to ya." I laughed.

"Shut up Ry, you're just jealous."

"Yeah, I am jealous." I said while rolling my eyes, "By the way, I wanna meet this girl. She's gotta be pretty cool to be going out with my little brother."

"She's so totally boss! You'll meet her soon!" He said, all cheery again.

"Good. Sorry Tim, but I gotta bail on ya. Me and Chris here are going to the lake."

"The lake? I wanna go!"

"Sorry Tim, I'll bring you another time. You should go call your girlfriend."

"Fine." He slumped down, defeated.

I turned to Chris, "Come upstairs with me."

He looked kind of surprised, "Alright."

We walked up the stairs and into my room, and I then realized this was the first time I actually asked him to come in my room. All the other times he had been in my room were because either we were with a bunch of people, or he snuck in during the night because of his dad.

"So…" Things were a little bit awkward.

"So…" He said back.

"Wanna help me pick out a bathing suit?" I asked.

"Thought you didn't have one."

"My mom bought me some when she went shopping last weekend."

"Oh, okay."

Yes, things were really awkward.

We shuffled awkwardly around the room and I grabbed my two bathing suits.

"So which one shou-"

In the middle of asking the question, he kissed me.

At first I was surprised, so I didn't kiss back. But then I wasn't surprised anymore, so I went back into the kiss with even more passion.

We both broke from the kiss and he looked up and smirked at me.

"Didn't know you had it in you Ry."

I smirked back, "What the hell does that mean, Chambers?"

"Oh, nothing." He smirked and we kissed again.

"Ehem." We both heard coming from my doorway.

"Mom!" I said shocked, "Um, we were just, uh…"

"Yeah, I know what you were just." She laughed.

"_This is awkward_…" Chris mumbled.

"Anyways Ryan, I came up here to tell you that Vernon called. He said he might show up at the lake a little late because his brother was keeping him for something."

_Billy was keeping him for something? That couldn't be good…_

"Oh, okay thanks mom."

She smirked, "No problem."

She left and I turned to Chris, "I betcha Vern's in trouble."

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"Alright, let's hurry to the lake then and save his ass." I said, thinking about the numerous times we've had to save Vern from Cobra troubles.

"Ha, nice plan." Chris was probably thinking the same thing I was.

--

Gordie and Teddy were already swimming in the lake by the time we got there. We told them about how Vern was in trouble, so they dried off and we went to go save old Verno.

--

Vern's house was the farthest away from the lake, about a mile.

"So, what are you guys doing over the summer?" Gordie asked.

"Nothing really. Just hanging around here." I said.

"Same." Both Teddy and Chris said in unison.

"What about you Gordie?" I asked.

"I think I'm going to take some writing classes, you know, to help me with my stories and stuff."

"That's really cool! I'm proud of you Gordie; your stories are really great." I said, patting him on the back. I knew he always got a little touchy when someone mentioned his stories.

"Thanks Ry, and remind me to write about you someday."

"Ha, what's there to write about me?"

He scoffed like it was a stupid question, "Ry, let me summarize the way life has been since you've arrived…"

"You've gotten us in trouble numerous times, you've gotten kidnapped at least three times, you've made these idiotic plans that always get us in more trouble than we need to be in, and you've stuck up to Ace and Eyeball on numerous accounts. And that's not even half of what's happened since you came here." He said, finishing his speech.

"Ha, geez Gordie. I don't know if I'm supposed to be proud of those things or not…"

"You should be proud," Teddy added in, "It's been fun since you've came here."

"Guys, the only reason I'm 'fun' is because you guys are totally right up there with me the whole time." I smiled and huddled in with everybody, "What would I do without you guys?"

"Aw, save the sappy stuff Ry. We don't wanna hear it." Teddy said, making a gagging noise.

"Yeah, yeah…" I was about to say something before I saw a blur running towards us, "Hey, do you see that kid?" I asked, pointing.

"Ha, yeah. What a loser." Teddy laughed.

"Wait a minute! That's Vern!" I realized.

"Yeah, that is Vern!" Chris said, noticing too.

"Wonder what he's running from." Gordie said, contemplating.

I thought for a second, "I think I have an idea."

"Yeah, me too. And it has something to do with a gang." Gordie said.

"Definitely." Chris said.

"GUYS! YA GOTTA HELP ME, BILLY'S GONNA KILL ME!" Vern yelled while running up to us.

Then we saw the car, Ace's infamous car. And let's just say the Cobras didn't look too happy.

"RUN!" I screamed.

We all ran like bats out of hell. For pretty much a year now we had been running from the Cobras, so now we had many escape routes. So, we took an escape route and got out of there just in time.

I started laughing, out of breath. The guys all turned to me, confused on why I was laughing at a time like this.

I turned to them, "I guess things never change."

They all looked back at me, smirking.

"Never."


	31. Stand By Me

hey guys!

It's weird to say that this is the end of Four Winds. I've been working on the story for over a year now, and it's sad to say that it's coming to an end.

HUGE thanks to the reviewers that have been there since No Rain.

Shoutout to TheVertigoDancer, Nightcrawlerlover, hannahmichelle, , JJAH, and Hollywood Angel. Thanks for all the great reviews, ideas, and motivating me.

Hope you guys like the end!

* * *

It's been a year, three months, and five days since I moved to Castle Rock. In that year, three months, and five days, I have had the best time of my life. The best part is I've met my four best friends.

It's been two months since we saved Vern's ass from the Cobras. Don't worry, we saved Vern and just took one of our escape routes to make sure the Cobras didn't get us.

And you know what's weird? I've actually gotten closer to the Cobras. Ace and I are still bitter towards each other, but I've started talking to Eyeball a lot more. I guess if you hate a person long enough, you start to enjoy their company.

It's the summer now, and Vern, Teddy, Gordie, Chris, and I practically all live with each other. It's rare when we don't spend at least 12 out of the 24 hours of a day together.

We've all grown up a bit, I mean we're still the same, but everyone is kind of…maturing. Vern's getting smarter (hard to believe, I know) and he's starting to stand up for himself. Teddy's not as much of a man whore anymore. Gordie is writing brilliant stories like you won't believe. Chris is wiser and more insightful. And me, I'm just growing up.

But we're all still crazy and doing stupid things that we know we'll get in trouble for. Yesterday, for example. Yesterday Teddy and I put Vaseline on all the door handles of Ace's car. It was so funny watching him try to open his car doors. He was extremely pissed, and luckily he doesn't know it was us.

We've all been going on short "road trips" lately. We all get in a car and drive until we feel like stopping somewhere. We usually end up in very odd places. The other day we ended up at a shut-down Drive-in. It was fun though, because we explored the whole place and found some old reels of movies.

Chris and I are better than ever. We might fight like an old married couple, but we love each other. Well I think we do, I mean I'm only 16, but it feels like love to me.

All my other friends are doing pretty well themselves. Trinity ended up going out with Eyeball again, but that was broken off because she caught Eyeball cheating on her. Poor Trinity. But she's over it. She's actually going out with Paul now, and they're both really happy.

Timmy is still going strong with his "girlfriend." Her name is Emma, and they're so cute together. She came over one day and I saw them holding hands. The guys always make fun of their young love, but I think it's cute.

And you might be wondering what is going on today, right? Well right now its three o'clock in the afternoon. I've already hung out with the guys today, but I'm guessing we're gonna hang out again. I'm chilling in my room, expecting Teddy or someone to burst through my door any minute. I think we are going down to the lake for a night swim, I'm pretty sure.

I'm so happy that everything has worked out. I've been through a lot, with my old family issues, and the Cobra dilemmas, but I have the greatest friends. Teddy, Chris, Gordie, and Vern are always going to be there for me no matter what. No matter how much we want to kill each other some days, we're still all glued at the hip. Things might change in the future, but for now we're all together.

"Hey Ry!"

Speak of the devils, Chris and the guys are all climbing through my window right now. Told you they'd burst in any second.

The guys all jumped on my bed with me, and Teddy farted. Typical. After the smell of Teddy's fart was wafted out the window, we all started talking. We talked and laughed about everything. From the time we all met up at the lake the first time, to when we had our stake outs, to when I was kidnapped multiple times, and to when we saw Vern running up the hill from the Cobras.

We winded up talking for a grand total of four hours, not a personal record for us, but pretty darn close.

"So, any plans for the day ahead, or should I say night?" Gordie asked.

"I've got one."

We all whipped our heads around to see Eyeball leaning against my doorway, smirking. His trademark smirk actually felt comforting.

I sighed, then smirked. "What do you want Eyeball?"

He walked into my room. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure..?" I said, confused. The guys just all looked at me with blank faces, but confused also.

I got up from my bed and walked towards Eyeball. He held the door open for me, and we walked out to my front porch. We both sat down next to each other on the front steps. The sun was just beginning to set and I smiled over at him as the setting sun hit his face.

"So why the need to talk to me?" I asked.

He smirked and looked up at the sky, "You know, I've done a lot of shit to you Ry…"

I thought about his statement. He had already knocked me out, beat me to the ground, kidnapped me and almost raped me. I was pretty sure "I've done a lot of shit to you" was an understatement, but I was going to wait to see what he had to say first before I started my argument.

He continued, "And I'm actually really sorry that I did all of it."

I was a little taken aback, "Wow. I never thought Eyeball Chambers had it in him to be a softy." I smiled at him, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

He laughed. A cute, Eyeball laugh. The kind that I've only heard once, and actually like hearing.

"You know Ry, you're a hard person not to like. And I didn't like hurting a person I like. And you're hot too, which helps…"

I laughed at him, "Do I feel a _real _friendship coming on? I mean, I think this is the first time I've talked to you without bickering."

He smirked, "Maybe. Or maybe we've been friends all along, and just didn't have the guts to say it."

I thought about that. It was kind of true, to be honest I did like Eyeball's company. Our bickering always provided me with entertainment.

"You know Eyeball, you're right." I laughed and stood up, "I want to be friends with you."

I then heard footsteps coming down the hall, and watched as Chris, Teddy, Vern, and Gordie filed out one by one onto my porch. Two seconds later, I saw Ace's infamous black car pull up, and all the Cobras were all in it.

Ace shouted from the car at Eyeball, "What the fuck are you doing Eyeball? Get the fuck in the car, we're going to Irby's."

As Eyeball left, he turned to me and smirked, "Friends?"

I nodded. He did his trademark smirk again and winked, and then turned around and walked away. I smiled, and then watched as Ace's car peeled away. All the Cobras were how they always were and always will be, laughing and shouting and drinking. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I turned around to look at my four best friends, and I smiled.

Chris broke the silence, "So, what was that about?"

I smirked, "Nothing. Just clearing up some things we already knew."

Teddy then ran and jumped off my porch steps. "Alright then, let's get our asses to the lake!"

Gordie and Vern ran after Teddy and Chris stayed behind with me.

We walked in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey Ry?" Chris asked.

"Yeah?"

"No matter what happens in the future, we're going to stick together, right?"

I smiled. "Chris, if you married a crack whore hooker, I would still stick by your side."

He laughed at me and then looked ahead of him. "Good to know, because no matter what me and the guys are always going to be here for you."

I knew that Chris meant what he said. Us five had built a friendship that couldn't be separated. Even if we don't talk to each other for five years, we'd still be able to have that inseparable bond.

We got to the lake in just enough time to watch the last glimpse of the sun set. All the guys jumped in as I sat on the pier for a minute, just letting my toes dangle in the water. I then watched as all the guys came out of the water, and I had a feeling I knew what they were going to do.

All at once the guys ran up to me, screaming, "ATTACK!!"

They then grabbed me, "I HATE YOU GUYS! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?! IS THIS THE FIFTH TIME NOW?"

They were now swinging me, "Come on Ry, it wouldn't be a good day at the lake if we don't throw you in." Teddy laughed.

I then hit a big splash as I sunk down into the water and came back up to the surface.

I spit out the water in my mouth, and all the guys were already in the water around me. We all started splashing each other and laughing, mostly at Vern. Times like these make me feel incredibly lucky. My friends will always be my family, and nothing will ever change that.

THE END. 


End file.
